


Fake Reputation

by lifelivinskam



Category: SKAM France, elu - Fandom
Genre: Fake reputation, M/M, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:21:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22303324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifelivinskam/pseuds/lifelivinskam
Summary: Lucas has a reputation, one that is solely based off of rumours and no truths whatsoever. No one but him and his close friends know though. Eliott has heard of the rumours and stays far away from all of it, keeping himself closed off from the world around him. It doesn’t stay that way, however, when the two of them bump into each other and can’t seem to stop randomly seeing each other everywhere.
Relationships: elu - Relationship
Comments: 23
Kudos: 232





	1. Chapter one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw for this chapter only - sa, nothing actually happens but mentions of the possible start of something
> 
> So... this is my first fic, my first ever proper story. I can’t believe I’m actually posting it. I have literally always wanted to write a proper story like this, but I’ve never actually succeeded in doing so. This is gonna be a challenge for me, but I’m looking forward to it. I hope it’s decent.
> 
> I have had this idea for a while now and may have slightly altered it as I kind of prefer it like this now. This first chapter doesn’t cover too much and isn’t too long, but it will get longer as more things happen. 
> 
> For now, all I have to say is enjoy!

The one thing Lucas hated the most was walking through the courtyard. Everyone would watch as he walked past, whispering and gossiping. He hated feeling all of them eyes on him. He hated being the centre of attention.

All of this had happened based off of a few rumours that were spread after a party a while back. Lucas was spotted going into a room with a guy and was spotted leaving the same room around half an hour later. Apparently he had looked like he had just had sex. Little did they know, that nothing happened.

After that, word got around and continues to get around every time Lucas is spotted with a boy. It doesn’t matter who it is, people will make up lies and he’ll find out something two days later that he did that he didn’t remember doing...

Because it didn’t happen.

He now has a reputation. He has no idea of how to get rid of it, how to stop all the attention, the rumours, the lies. He hates every second of it.

He wishes he could be invisible so no one could see him, so he wouldn’t have any form of attention on him. That clearly won’t happen. So he just takes in a deep breath before walking across the open area to his next class, trying his hardest to ignore everything.

It’s hard to though.

It’s a relief every time he steps inside the building. It doesn’t feel as daunting inside. Outside he just feels like an animal in an inclosure at the zoo, the main attraction that everyone wants to catch a glimpse of. As soon as he steps inside, he feels less important with the smaller amount of eyes looking at him, the smaller amount of whispers he can hear surround him.

In all honesty, he just gets through the school day, hoping that this will stop one day. 

It needs to.

——

A time he feels most normal is when he’s with his friends. 

His friends know that everything is only rumours. They’ve tried many times to try and stop them from spreading, but it’s never worked. They’ve all just accepted this is how it’s gonna be and that’s quite sad.

So whilst the whole school thinks Lucas is a fuck boy, him and his friends know the truth and continue being their crazy, chaotic selves, wondering why the hell anyone would think differently when they do stupid shit, like challenging each other to see who can jump the highest, ending up in Basile having to go to the medical room as he pushed himself to far. (All fairness, it was a kinda funny situation that they all bring up every now and then.)

They’re all idiots. And that’s why Lucas loves them and is insanely grateful for them. He would be completely and utterly lost without them.

“Do you think my mum would let me get a pet?” Basile randomly asks, changing the topic of conversation straight away. It’s not like they were talking about anything interesting anyway.

“Would you even keep an animal alive?” Arthur asked, joking as Basile is barely capable of looking after himself. The amount of times he’s injured himself from just walking alone is an actual joke. “If it were up to me, I’d never let you near an animal.”

“I’d give it so much love though!”

“Doesn’t mean it’d be alive though.” 

Basile opened his mouth to continue arguing, trying to make a point that no one was going to agree with, when Yann cut him off, helping out Arthur’s very valid point. 

“Didn’t you have a goldfish like two years ago?” He asked, taking a sip of the drink he was holding.

“Yes. Goldie. Why?” Basile responded, fully turning to face Yann, confused as to what he was getting on to.

“What happened to Goldie, again?”

“She ended up eating too much... because I might have fed her too much.”

“That just goes to show my point. Physically incapable to look after an animal.” Arthur added, moving his arm so it was around Basile’s shoulders to comfort him once he started to get sad about it.

“Ey, Bas, don’t give up hope. You could get a pet one day.” Lucas spoke, immediately making a small smile grow on his face. “You could prove us all wrong.”

“I will.” He responded, looking happy and proud that someone had some confidence in him. Lucas didn’t really have any, but he didn’t want him to be sad about it. He doesn’t need to know that though.

They left the school building, heading out to the courtyard, with Lucas immediately feeling at least one pair of eyes on him. People really needed to get a life if this was what they were fixated on.

It seemed like Yann could feel it as well, immediately moving so he was covering the side of Lucas that was exposed, so that his friends were all surrounding him. It definitely made Lucas feel a lot safer and less judged.

“Should I bother asking my mum though? She might say yes.” Basile continued, getting more and more hopeful as the conversation continued.

“Go for it. Worst she could say is no.” Yann replied, taking another sip of his drink.

“That would destroy me though! I wanna be a dad to an animal! Just imagine it-” 

“Yo, Lucas!” Someone shouted, cutting Basile off mid sentence, mid point. All four boys turned to see who it was, all four of them internally groaning at who it was.

The person in question was Louis, aka one of the most popular guys in school, aka the person who everyone supposedly loves but le gang do not. For many reasons, however. One of which for being very rude to Lucas’s friends on many occasions, but playing it off as a joke. He never once has been rude to Lucas and acts like they’re best friends, when Lucas hates his guts. 

He really should say it to his face one day.

Louis approached the four of them, with his friends following behind him, flashing the biggest (fakest) smile at them. “Seeing as you’re always down for a party, my boy Alex here,” He moved so his hand was placed on Alex’s shoulder. “is throwing a kick ass party tonight. You coming?”

He didn’t want to. He knew he’d go and some new rumour would be circulating tomorrow. But he knew his friends were always down for a party and, even though none of them liked Louis, they all liked Alex and would definitely want to go to one of his parties.

Which is why he responded with a “Yeah, sure, of course” kind of thing.

“Awesome! Guess we’ll be seeing each other tonight then.” Louis responded, walking straight through the four boys, patting Lucas on the back as he walked past.

All four of them groaned once they were a decent distance away.

“He is horrible.” Yann spoke, enunciating each word clearly, reiterating his point.

“I really hope we don’t see him tonight.” Basile continued, his face saying everything all of them felt.

“I’ll run the opposite way if I see him.” Arthur joked, as they continued making their way through the courtyard.

“We all will.” Lucas said, finishing the conversation about awful Louis and moving back on to the conversation of pets.

Lucas was just hoping he would stay out of sight at the party.

——

Lucas was glad when the school day was over. He always was.

People would stop the staring and he could go home and have some peace. Apart from the fact he only had a few hours of peace, before him and the guys were off to a party, but aside from that, he had some time by himself.

He was waiting at the bus stop for his bus to arrive, his headphones in, enjoying the peace he had at the moment. He was waiting all by himself, no one else was there.

He was happy.

Nothing could ruin the mood he was in. He was content.

But that clearly didn’t last long when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket and he saw his dad had texted him. Well, he had texted him several times, but every time Lucas had ignored it. Guess it was time to read them now.

_Are you free this weekend? I was hoping you’d want to come for dinner_

_Louise is really excited to meet you_

_Can you reply as soon as you see these please? We need to make plans_

_I’ve messaged your mum as well, maybe she’ll respond faster than you will_

_You’re free! So you’ll come yeah?_

Lucas groaned. He didn’t want to see his dad and he especially didn’t want to meet his new partner. He should’ve responded as soon as he got the first message. He wasn’t going to be able to back out now.

_Might have plans with friends, I’ll let you know_

Lucas sighed, placing his phone back into his pocket, knowing he wouldn’t send a message to his dad, knowing he wasn’t going to have any plans no matter what.

His dad left him. Why should he go see his dad’s new life, his new, amazing, fantastic, life which he isn’t apart of? His life was better without him.

A few minutes later, Lucas felt his phone buzz in his pocket again just as the bus was turning up. He chose to ignore it again, focusing on the one thing happening tonight: the party. 

The one he didn’t even want to go to anyway.

——

Lucas’s mum wasn’t home when he arrived, meaning he had to make food for himself and had the house to himself for a few hours. It was nice to before all the craziness began.

He was sat eating a bowl of pasta he had made, scrolling through his phone, when Yann messaged him.

_Hate to say this to you but_

_I’ve seen someone say they’re hoping to get with you tonight_

_I ain’t gonna use the exact words they used_

_Just thought I’d warn you_

Lucas sighed, placing his fork down so it was resting on the side of the bowl, immediately wanting the ground to swallow him whole, or for something dramatic and drastic to happen, meaning he wouldn’t be able to go to this party. 

People thought he was easy to get with. Little did they know.

It disgusts him that this happens too often. He’s a literal nobody with a handful of friends. Why are people so interested in this? 

He’s definitely gonna have to have some sort of physical protection tonight, like a barrier or a baseball bat, something he could hit people with or ward them off with. Or maybe he should just not go? He was definitely contemplating it before Yann messaged him again.

_Me and Arthur have decided we’re not letting you out of our sight tonight_

__You’ll be alright with us_ _

__

Lucas smiled, immediately calming down. Thank goodness for his friends.

_:)_

——

By the time the four of them had arrived, the party was already in full swing. The house was crowded, extremely extremely loud, very hot and sweaty - not what Lucas wanted to be dealing with on a Friday night. But it was what he was going to be dealing with.

They pushed their way through the crowd to get themselves a drink, with Basile, Arthur and Yann immediately heading to the living room afterwards, where everyone was dancing and having the most fun. 

Lucas followed them, but stopped in the doorway, watching everyone in the room. They all looked like they were having the time of their lives. It was a joy to see.

He so wished he was one of them people who would be happy to go and dance, enjoy the night and everything else, but he didn’t. It’s not like he didn’t like dancing, he just didn’t like the crowds, the feeling of it, getting hot and sweaty and feeling like you can’t leave because of how many people are around you. He was a lot happier staying on the outside looking in.

Yann and Arthur were (kind of) keeping to their agreement of keeping an eye on Lucas, making sure no one creepy approached him, but he could tell they wanted to have fun and they couldn’t do it if they had to keep looking over at him.

He sighed, going to refill his drink, before moving to head upstairs to a quieter part of the house, where there were less people, less noise, less sweat. A lot, lot more enjoyable.

He entered the first room in front of him, which was luckily empty, and sat down at the edge of the bed, taking a few sips of his drink every now and then.

He knew this was how his night was most likely going to end up. It always was. Usually, some rumour had already started to spread and he just needed to be alone. He hated the attention. This time, he just couldn’t stand being here. He just wished he had stayed at home.

Things didn’t stay this way though. 

After around five minutes of Lucas being sat in this room by himself, drinking, listening to the muffled music that was a lot more bearable to hear from upstairs, someone walked into the room, closing the door and heading to sit next to Lucas.

This was not one of his friends however.

This person was in fact Ryan, someone who had previously tried to have sex with Lucas and, to be honest, was quite alright with it not going anywhere. He seemed like a nice guy, so Lucas wasn’t too pissed about him being here.

“Hey.” Ryan said, sitting down right next to Lucas on the edge of the bed, facing him as he continued. “You alright?”

Lucas nodded, shrugging his shoulders a bit, before taking another sip of his drink, placing it on the bedside cabinet next to him. “I guess.” He responded, simply, not wanting to go into how he didn’t want to be here etc etc. “You?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Ryan’s smile slowly became a bit cheeky, teasing in a way. “You not in here with anyone tonight then?”

Lucas rolled his eyes. Of course people would be thinking that when it comes to him. “I’m by myself. That’s good enough.” He replied, making it very obvious that he didn’t want anything to happen tonight at all, just in case he wanted to try something or someone he knew wanted to try something.

Didn’t seem like he caught on though.

He shuffled a bit closer to Lucas, his breath fanning over the side of Lucas’s face. He thought this was going to be a nice interaction, one that he wouldn’t need to panic or worry about, but, boy, was he wrong.

Clearly Ryan was not okay with things not going further anymore.

He placed his hand on Lucas’s thigh, making Lucas wince slightly, not at pain or anything because it didn’t hurt at all, but because he really did not want him touching him, especially like that.

“You sure about that? You’re kind of known for doing stuff at parties.” Ryan spoke, slowly getting closer and closer to Lucas to the stage where he didn’t know what personal space was anymore and Lucas had to move otherwise things would get messy and disgusting.

He quickly escaped Ryan’s space, standing and moving over towards the window, hoping that the space between them was big enough so he would leave him alone. It’s all he wanted - to be alone.

Ryan still didn’t seem like he had a single brain cell at all as he stood up and slowly made his way over to Lucas, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but it still being very clear that he was hoping something would happen. This was disgusting. 

“Come on Lucas. You know you want to. You’ve done this loads of times now. Why not tonight?”

Lucas moved closer towards the window the closer Ryan got, with him eventually hitting the window sill, not able to move any further away from him.

“Because I don’t want to. Because I wanna be by myself. Because you should be able to take no as a viable answer and leave.” He took a deep breath in, hoping and praying to whoever that Ryan would just leave, would understand what was happening, what was being said.

Instead, he was all back up in Lucas’s space, his face inches away from Lucas’s. Lucas moved his head so he wasn’t facing him, but it didn’t make him move away any more.

“You know that isn’t the case. Come on.”

And as Ryan leaned forward a tiny bit more, Lucas quickly pushed him back, making him fall back and onto the bed, before he turned around, opening the window as quickly as he could, pushing it open as far as it could and climbing out, not knowing whether he was able to climb down and escape this way. At this moment in time, he didn’t care. 

He needed to leave, to escape, he felt like he couldn’t breathe. He’d take any route, any way, to get out of there.

He fully ignored the world and what was going on around him and focused on his struggle of a climb down to safety.

He was definitely going to be hearing something tomorrow about this, with it blown widely out of context, as always.

He shuffled along the bottom of the window, holding onto the ledge, before leaping across to some bits of wood stuck to the wall and shuffling down a bit, almost losing his grip at one point. He managed to get down enough to grab onto one of the light fixtures to the right of him, swinging on it slightly before dropping down onto the floor, missing the landing and falling straight onto his bum.

He didn’t realise someone was outside watching his every move of his escape until he heard faint laughing coming from behind him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm... I wonder who the person is? 
> 
> Anyway I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this first chapter - I’m hoping to get the next chapter up within the next week, but don’t quote me on that as I haven’t even started writing it yet. I’m excited to continue this though and I hope you’re excited to continue reading.


	2. Chapter two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... a few days late I’m sorry. But it’s finally here! Hopefully the next part should be up by the weekend, and I mean it this time. But I hope you enjoy this chapter, especially as I may have included a few interactions with someone...

Lucas slowly stood up, ignoring the shooting pain from where he fell, with some dignity still left. The person behind him was still laughing slightly at what had just happened. He wiped down his jeans, turning around to see who it was who had seen this tragic and embarrassing event, only he didn’t know who it was.

The person who was now stood in front of him was a nobody to him. He had never in his life seen him before. But now he had seen him, he always wanted to see him.

For some reason, he couldn’t stop looking at him. Yeah, he was goddamn gorgeous, standing there looking like a model, looking extremely beautiful with that smile on his face, but there was something else there. Something he couldn’t quite put a finger on yet.

He still had no idea who he was though. Better change that soon then.

“You okay there?” The boy asked, taking a quick drag of the blunt in his hand. He quickly gestured up to the window Lucas escaped from, before continuing. “Seems like a complicated way of leaving. Didn’t try the front door?”

Lucas couldn’t help the small smile that came on his face. He had to admit the whole situation would seem hilarious to someone who had zero idea what had happened. 

“I’m fine. Just needed to escape.” Lucas responded, shrugging his shoulders slightly, trying to brush it off as if it was nothing.

The guy took another drag of his blunt, raising his eyebrows. “Escaping from someone?”

Oh yeah. He has a reputation. Even though he was actually escaping from someone, just not in the way he was thinking about it.

“Don’t say anything to anyone, please. People talk and I don’t really want to hear this going round next week.”

The guy shook his head, brushing it off like it was nothing. “I won’t. I don’t really care so nothing to worry about here.”

Lucas nodded once, rubbing his hands together awkwardly, not really knowing how to leave, not really wanting to leave for many reasons. Not just because this beautiful specimen is standing right in front of him. 

He eventually just settled for a simple, “Ok. Good. I guess I’m off.” 

And then he turned and started to head towards the gate at the side of the house to head home. Thank goodness tonight was over with.

“Ooh! Lucas!”

He stopped halfway on his journey to the gate, turning around to see the guy walking up to him, holding something out in his hand.

“You dropped this when you... well, dropped onto the ground.” The guy held his hand out towards Lucas and Lucas realised he was about to leave without his phone. Thank god this guy was a decent human being, unlike the one he was with mere minutes beforehand.

“Thanks...” Lucas trailed off, taking his phone, hoping that the guy would say his name, not for any stalking kind of thing, he just really wanted to know who he was. Luckily he did respond.

“Eliott. I’m Eliott.”

Lucas nodded slowly, placing his phone into his back pocket, before slowly starting to head towards the gate again. “Thanks again.” 

He made it to the gate, opening it, before quickly turning round and saying, “See you around, I guess.” before finally walking through the gate and beginning his journey home.

This night had changed very, very quickly, but he was definitely leaving in a different mood than he thought he would be.

——

Once he arrived home, he saw that all of the lights were off, signalling that his mum had gone to bed already. It wasn’t too late, but he guesses she had quite a hard day or something. 

He walked through to the kitchen with his phone light on, not wanting to wake his mum up, heading to the fridge to pour a glass of orange juice, before heading upstairs to his own room with the glass in his hand.

He turned the light on, immediately falling onto his bed, carefully so he didn’t spill his drink everywhere, and retrieved his phone out of his pocket.

Since Eliott had given it back to him, he hadn’t even touched it, apart from when he had obviously slotted it back into his pocket.

He moved so his back was leaning against the headboard, his phone lighting up to see many, many notifications. Many of which from the le gang group chat, wondering where Lucas had gone and if he needed saving. He smiled a bit knowing that, even though they were all busy having fun, possibly even talking to some girls, they still cared and wanted to know if he was safe.

Thank god he was now.

He quickly sent the group chat a message saying that he was fine and now home, before heading over to Instagram, where he saw many photos from different people he went to school with from the party. All of them looked basically the same.

He scrolled through quite a lot of them, only liking the ones from his friends, before freezing at one in particular. The reason for that? He saw Eliott in one.

The person was just a random girl who was in his biology class and he didn’t really care for the photo itself. He wouldn’t have even looked at the photo if he didn’t see him in it.

After looking at the photo for a while, Lucas looked to see the accounts tagged, only to see that Eliott wasn’t tagged in the photo. Strange. Maybe she just didn’t have his account name? Maybe she had only just met him at this party? Who knew. But he was curious and couldn’t stop himself from going to the explore page and typing in his name.

But nothing came up. Clearly, as he only knew his first name and nothing else about him.

He sighed, not really understanding why he was disappointed in not finding his account. He was just a person, someone who he had literally only met briefly at a party and didn’t know basically anything about. Why was he so disappointed? He was a nobody.

His mind couldn’t stop thinking about him though. There must be a reason why. A reason why he felt pulled to him earlier when he first saw him. A reason why he wants to know more about him.

But he’s dumb and can’t think of anything apart from the fact that he wants to see him again. He wants to talk to him again.

Maybe he’d see him at school next week. He really hoped he would. He also really hoped he isn’t the kind of person to talk to people about gossip. He couldn’t just take his word earlier.

Lucas sighed again, not wanting to think about school and the possibility that people will be talking yet again, and threw his phone on the bed, leaning his head back against the headboard. Tonight was a weird night.

——

Saturday.

The day Lucas was going to see his dad again.

This wasn’t going to be a fun time.

See, Lucas hasn’t seen his dad in around 6 months. He messages him and stuff, but has not actually seen him in the flesh for around 6 months. It’s like he wants to seem like a good dad, but is actually not. Especially seeing as he just left him alone with his mum.

When Lucas had found out his dad had met someone new, he wasn’t happy about it at all. He knew that meant his dad was going to change, would not care as much about him, would not help him out whenever Lucas needed it. And that’s exactly what happened.

He gets his dad has to move on and continue with his life. He’s not mad at him for that. It’s just like he’s moved on and is so far ahead of him, whilst he’s just left Lucas behind. He isn’t his first priority anymore.

Which is why he didn’t want to come today. Which is why he’s standing outside the house, hesitating walking up to the front door. 

They’d be able to see him through the window. They’re probably watching him wondering why he’s just standing there, not moving, not making an effort to come inside. He can’t physically do this.

He can’t walk up and knock on the door. He can’t walk inside and talk to them and pretend everything’s okay. He can’t walk inside and be nice to them. He can’t do anything. He’s frozen to the spot.

He so wishes he could be a normal person. A normal person would be able to do this. He can’t though.

He could just walk away. They might not have seen he’s just standing outside, so they’d just assume something was going on and Lucas couldn’t turn up. He could send a message saying that somethings happened and he has to stay at home. He could say he has plans. That would be easier than actually walking up to the front door.

He has contemplated it though. He’s been standing there for a good few minutes. It’s crossed his mind more than once. Only it would make things bad between him and his dad. Things aren’t perfect as it is, but it would immediately become a lot worse.

His dad would blame him for them not having a good relationship. He’d go on and on about how he’s the one making all the effort, taking time out of his life to try and keep up their relationship. It would all be Lucas’s fault, even though he had tried for months and months to see his dad before he met someone new.

Did he really care that much though? 

No. That’s why he eventually decided to walk away. After a good 5 minutes of standing outside, staring at his dad’s house, he decided to walk away, head anywhere, he didn’t care where. Let things get shitty. It’s not like it’s gonna change things anyway.

He didn’t know where he was headed. He knew it was the same way that he had come from, but he didn’t want to go home. He needed some time by himself, some peace to forget everything. 

At least, on the plus side, the weather was, surprisingly, really nice today. It wasn’t too hot either; it was the kind of hot where you could walk somewhere and not melt, where you could be in sunlight and not feel like it’s burning. It was nice.

Lucas was walking down the same roads that he had walked not too long beforehand, but the other direction, taking in the nice weather, when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He expected it to be a message from his dad asking him where he is, but instead it was from his mum.

_Hey, can you pick up some milk on your way home?? I’ve just used the last of it up, thank you xx_

Weird. There was almost a whole bottle full this morning when he poured some in his cereal. Maybe his mum had used it all up for something?

He placed his phone back in his pocket, thinking about which stores are around where he is, so he didn’t have to walk far, and could also buy himself a treat and make his day a whole lot better than what it had already been. He didn’t think for too long as he knew this area quite well and knew there was one only a few minutes away.

He headed in that direction, quickly making sure he had enough money on him, seeing as he wasn’t even expecting to be buying anything, seeing as his original plans were to be with his dad and his new partner. Luckily, he did have enough, so he didn’t need to make a quick pit stop to get some.

He arrived there a few minutes later, heading inside, expecting it to be extremely busy because it was a Saturday, but finding out it was quite dead. Unusual. But he was glad. At least that means he won’t be bumping into anyone he knew. He just wanted to get some milk and some chocolate.

He headed straight for the milk, picking up the exact one he and his mum usually buy, before turning around to head to get some chocolate, but accidentally walked into someone’s bag, almost falling over.

God, he was a mess.

“Oops, sorry.” The bag’s owner quickly said once he noticed Lucas there, turning to face him.

Lucas turned quickly to say something, probably that it’s okay, that he’s a mess and wasn’t looking, but didn’t end up saying it. 

The person whose bag he almost fell over, almost falling face first onto the floor from, was Eliott. 

Lucas didn’t even know what to say. He had just met this person the day before and was so intrigued by him, what does he say? He was trying to find the guy on every form of social media last night, he can’t just act normally around him. 

Well, he can’t seem to do that anyway based off of the two times they’ve met already.

Eliott saved him, though, by smiling and breaking the short silence that had gathered over them. 

“Do you just have a habit of falling or something?” Lucas couldn’t help but scoff, smiling at Eliott’s teasing.

“Not usually, no.” Lucas responded, looking down at the floor, at his shoes, before risking looking back up, hoping he doesn’t look like a complete idiot. “Guess you’ve just caught me at a bad time.”

“Twice then? In less than 24 hours?” Eliott’s smile grew even more the more he teased him.

Lucas shrugged. “It can happen.”

Eliott nodded. “So you seem to be falling a lot... Been escaping from anyone today as well?”

Kind of. If he counted cowering away from seeing his dad and seeing his new life, the one that Lucas isn’t that big a part of. But he isn’t going to go down that route here, not with someone who he barely knows.

“Not yet. Could still happen. Still got a lot of the day left.” Lucas teased back, shrugging his shoulders, looking shyly to the side. Why is he acting like this around him? He’s immediately become a mess around him. 

He’s still so intrigued though.

Eliott chuckled at Lucas’s response, going to pick up his own bottle of milk, placing the strap of his bag on his shoulder. “Well, lets hope it’s more graceful this time.” He smirked, before walking straight past Lucas, heading to continue his own shopping.

Lucas couldn’t help but turn around and respond. 

He was graceful. He had some dignity left after yesterday. “I was. I was like a ninja.”

Eliott turned around, walking backwards a few steps, chuckling still. “A bad ninja.” 

Lucas scoffed, not being able to hide the smile on his face. Eliott smiled back, before turning back around and continuing on his journey.

He still had some dignity left. He had no idea what Eliott was going on about. 

——

Monday came around quickly and Lucas walked into school happy. For some reason, he trusted Eliott. He felt like he definitely wouldn’t have told anyone about him escaping at the party on Friday and no one will really care today.

For once, Lucas was feeling alright about school.

He was excited to see his friends again and maybe even see Eliott? He had never seen him around before, but it could happen. Especially as he now knows who he is. 

He headed into the first building, heading to his locker to collect one of his textbooks that he leaves at school, rather than takes home. It’s easier like this. He doesn’t always need them for homework or studying, so he just leaves it here so he doesn’t have to lug it home and back. Obviously, if he does need it at home, he does. He just doesn’t see the point otherwise.

He successfully reached his locker without bumping into anyone or hearing anyone whispering or feeling anyone looking at him, watching his every move. It felt weird but also incredible. There was finally some progress here.

In fact, the whole morning of school, no one really cared about Lucas. It’s like his “reputation” had been completely forgotten. Maybe because they had no new stories or rumours to spread around about Lucas. Maybe they were disappointed and had moved on to someone new. Unlucky for that person, if that was the case.

The only thing that was slightly bugging Lucas, however, was the fact he hadn’t even seen Eliott yet. He was kind of hoping he would at least see him walking to another lesson across the courtyard or something. Nothing yet though.

He was heading to the canteen when things changed. He couldn’t tell straight away. But he did notice.

He was walking down one of the corridors, past the French classrooms, when he felt it. All the eyes on him. The more he focused on it, the more he realised the whispering, the gossiping. The more he realised that it was about him.

He had stopped in the middle of the corridor, pretending like he had received a text on his phone, attempting to listen to some of the words floating around, trying to figure out if he was going paranoid or not. It took him a while to hear anything, but he did.

And he was not happy.

He heard the words “Friday”, “Ryan” and “climbing out the window”. He didn’t need to hear anymore to know it was about him. 

He placed his phone back in his pocket and began heading back down the corridor, ignoring all the stares and the whispers, trying to think. Think about who had said this, why they had said this, what they had said. He needed to know everything. People at this school were obsessed with the tiniest bit of gossip, whether it was fake or real, they didn’t care. Seeing as Lucas had been involved with a lot of it, people really cared about every detail. He didn’t like this at all.

Friday was horrible. If someone was spreading lies about it, or just in general talking about it, he needed to know why and what they had said. He needed them to change what they had said or just stop people from talking about it.

He turned around the corner, still heading in the direction of the canteen, even though he knew he wasn’t going to eat in there. The courtyard may be bad for people staring, but the canteen was even worse. He was one thousand percent not going to eat in there. But he didn’t know where else to go.

“Lucas!” He heard someone yell from behind him. He turned already knowing who he was going to be greeted with.

His best friend, of course. If there was rumours going around, Yann would be the first person to tell him, to let him fully know what was going on.

“What actually happened Friday? I thought you said you got home safe?” Yann asked as he approached, his eyebrows furrowed in worry and confusion.

Lucas shrugged. “Nothing. Ryan tried it on and I climbed out the window as he wouldn’t take no seriously. I did get home safely... why?” He responded, his voice growing very hesitant towards the end.

Yann raked a hand through his hair, his whole body showing annoyance. “Fuck. That’s not what people are saying.”

Lucas’s eyes narrowed, waiting for the news to hit him. “What _are_ people saying?”

Yann sighed. “That you and Ryan hooked up and you climbed out the window so people wouldn’t see.”

Shit.

The complete opposite of what actually happened.

Lucas’s mind began racing, his mind thinking of everything, about who would say something like this, about how he could fix this... But something caught his eye behind Yann and it all stopped.

He didn’t respond to Yann. He just walked past him, heading straight for the one person who saw everything, the one person who Lucas asked to not say anything of what he saw on Friday to anybody.

Eliott.

He saw him leaving one of the literature classrooms down the corridor and, without even thinking straight, immediately blamed him.

He marched straight up to him, stopping right in front of him, not letting him move one more step.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t tell anyone.” Lucas spoke, his arms crossed in front of him in anger.

Clearly Eliott was so confused. He had just walked out of his lesson and was immediately confronted by Lucas. He would have no idea. But Lucas wasn’t thinking clearly.

“About what?” Eliott asked, nonchalantly, not fazed at all by Lucas and his apparent anger and annoyance.

“About Friday?”

Eliott still didn’t react. “I didn’t. I told you I wouldn’t.”

“Then why is everyone talking about me climbing out of the window after apparently getting fucked?” 

Eliott shrugged his shoulders, still not reacting. He was very chill about this whole situation, even though Lucas was the complete opposite and was all up in his space.

“I dunno. I didn’t say anything. I don’t care or contribute to gossip. I have no one to even say stuff to so...” Eliott shrugged again, still not fazed.

“What do you mean you have no one to say stuff to?” Lucas asked, confused, even though that definitely should not be what he should be focusing on right now.

“I mean I don’t have anyone to talk to? Simple as. I full on just said it.”

Well. Fuck. Lucas feels bad now.

Eliott just brushed it off like it was nothing, though. “Are you sure the guy you climbed out of a window to escape from didn’t say anything? I mean surely he’d want to tell people about this, you know. Brag about hooking up with you.”

Eliott was the only one thinking clearly here. Lucas didn’t even think of Ryan. Now he just felt stupid.

His whole body calmed down, thinking about this, knowing that he could trust Eliott, knowing that he had some way of stopping all this gossip. Well, hopefully. If Ryan isn’t an ass about it.

“I... didn’t think about Ryan...”

Eliott’s eyebrows cocked up at that. “Ryan? You were with Ryan?” Lucas nodded in response. “Wow. He is a dick. Not surprised there.”

Lucas could definitely agree with that. Ryan was a dick. Especially if he was the person who was spreading this around. Lucas couldn’t wait to get to talk to him. Tell him everything he’s ever wanted to tell him before. Mainly that he’s an arrogant twat, but also other things as well along them lines.

Lucas immediately felt guilty for blaming Eliott, even though he had no reason to. He still didn’t really know him. He couldn’t help placing the blame that easily.

He unfolded his arms in front of him, placing them by his sides. “I’m sorry for blaming you, I didn’t think-”

“No, no. It’s fine. Don’t worry, Lucas. I understand.” Eliott cut him off, still being really chill about all of this. Damn, Lucas really liked him. He was so incredible. “Just go talk to him, sort it out. That’s all you can do.”

Lucas nodded, turning around to go and find Ryan, but stopping as Eliott spoke again.

“Oh, and tell him he’s a dick as well.”

Lucas smiled, before turning back around and finally walking off. This was going to be the best conversation he was ever going to have.

He couldn’t wait for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooh... interesting.
> 
> Not gonna lie, I’m very excited about writing this next interaction between Lucas and Ryan. It’s gonna be so much fun. 
> 
> Also, I wonder what’s going on with Eliott having no one to talk to? Hmm... 🤔😏


	3. Chapter three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kept my promise and I am posting this at the weekend. I’ve done quite alright with writing this week, so let’s hope it stays.
> 
> Don’t wanna spoil much about this chapter, but things are definitely getting somewhere... (I’m a tease I’m sorry.)

It took Lucas the whole of his lunch break to find Ryan. He didn’t care that he could possibly be late to his next lesson. He needed to talk to him. 

If he was the person who had started this gossip, then he needed to know. He needed to get through to him somehow.

Ryan was standing by the lockers outside the maths classrooms, busy chatting to a girl. Lucas knew he was very clearly flirting with her and trying to have sex with her, but he didn’t care. He was going to cockblock him. 

And he also needed to save this girl from the awful human being that Ryan actually is.

So, with that, Lucas stormed straight up towards the two of them, crossing his arms in front of his chest, waiting for the two of them to notice he was there. It didn’t take too long to notice him, however, because he was extremely pissed. The energy radiating from him alone would make his presence be known.

Ryan turned to look at him, a smile on his face. “Oh, would you look who it is. Lucas Lallemant.” He spoke, seeming to be in the best mood he could ever be in. Lucas was going to ruin that. “Ey, Friday was a lot of fun, huh?” He nudged Lucas in the shoulder, making Lucas even more annoyed at him.

“You not seeming to take no for an answer was not fun, no.” Lucas responded, his voice laced with anger and annoyance. It seemed to do the trick though because the smile on Ryan’s face disappeared.

“What-” Ryan began, but Lucas cut him off, turning to face the girl, who he had never met before.

“Do you mind if I take him for a few minutes? _Just_ to talk.” Lucas asked, emphasising the ‘just’ so she wouldn’t take it the wrong way.

He saw her quickly look over at Ryan, contemplating whether she should, before looking back at Lucas and deciding she should. Lucas was extremely mad; she shouldn’t have to witness this.

The girl walked away and Lucas took her spot directly in front of Ryan, blocking him from moving or trying to escape from this upcoming conversation.

“Why’d you do that for? I was so close to getting her!” Ryan protested, sticking his arm out in the direction she had just left in.

“‘Getting her’? She’s not a prize to be won.” Lucas responded, slowly getting more and more annoyed as time went on. He really was a dick. He shouldn’t talk about girls like that.

“Ok.” Ryan whispered, shrugging his shoulders. “What do you want then? Something real this time?”

Gross.

“Why did you tell people we hooked up on Friday?” Lucas asked, getting straight to the point, not even asking if he actually told people. It might not have even been him, but Lucas didn’t care. He’s the one to blame anyway.

Ryan sighed. “Seriously? That’s all you care about?”

Lucas shrugged. “I just wanna know why you’re spreading lies. Nothing happened. I wouldn’t with you in a million years.”

Ryan smirked. “Didn’t seem like that the last time.”

Yeah, yeah, Lucas was naïve. He didn’t know Ryan and thought he seemed like a nice guy. He’s attractive and had made sure Lucas didn’t drink too much. He couldn’t help but fall under his spell. Very quickly afterwards, when rumours started to spread after that night, where nothing happened yet again, Lucas saw the real him. Never again would something like that happen. He would make sure of it.

“Things have changed now. You’re a complete dick now. I feel sorry for whoever decides to do it with you.”

“You’re just jealous, Lucas. Come on. You wish you were one of them.” Ryan continued, reaching out to grab Lucas’s hand, but Lucas pulled away before he could.

“I said, never in a million years. I have standards now. God, you clearly don’t understand what no means, do you?” Lucas uncrossed his arms, waving them around to prove his point. To prove how stupid and arrogant he is. To prove that he isn’t anything ‘special’. 

Ryan, clearly sensing that the tone is not going to change to the one he was hoping it was going to, started to become annoyed now. Exactly what Lucas wanted. To piss him off. To make him fully understand what impact he had made by spreading lies.

“What do you want, Lallemant?” He asked, his whole body drowned in annoyance, no longer leaning on the lockers next to him.

Lucas stepped forward, hoping he will fully take in every word Lucas would be saying, hoping a small part of him would seem intimidating.

“You told everyone that we hooked up on Friday, yeah?” Ryan nodded. “Why?”

Ryan shrugged his shoulders. “I dunno. Because it would seem shitty to tell my friends you rejected me.”

Lucas raised his eyebrows. “You can’t handle rejection? Or the fact that your friends would think less of you because you got rejected?”

Ryan hesitated before answering. Lucas was clearly hitting a sore spot for him, but one that Ryan needed to face the reality of. 

“Both... I guess.”

Lucas nodded, ignoring the small, tiny part of him that felt bad that he has to care about this because of his friends. He had to sort this out. This whole situation makes Ryan seem like a god, but make Lucas seem like a hoe. 

He ain’t a hoe.

“Okay. I really hope you understand that, even though you don’t want to ruin your reputation, what you’ve told people is making mine worse. Yet, that shouldn’t be happening because _nothing happened_.” Ryan was silent, not knowing what to say, so Lucas continued. “You shouldn’t care what your friends would think. Rejection happens to everyone. It’s not just you who you’re affecting with this.”

Ryan sighed, shrugging his shoulders. “So... what do you want me to do?”

“Tell them what actually happened. That I rejected you. Easy as.”

“But, people would think that I lied about it to seem more badass. That would ruin me.” 

Lucas sighed, trying not to cringe at the fact Ryan had just used the word ‘badass’. “So what? Just tell them that they took what you said wrong. I don’t know. Just please try and fix this. You won’t seem like a complete and utter dick to me then.”

Ryan perked up at this a bit. “So... I might have a chance again?”

Lucas shook his head. “Hell no. You’ll always be a dick to me.”

“Fair enough. I deserve that.” Ryan nodded a bit.

“Yeah, you do.” And with that, Lucas turned and walked away, finally heading in the direction of his next lesson, right before the bell rang.

Perfect timing.

——

Lucas was feeling good for the rest of the day after that. He hoped Ryan was going to do the right thing, like he said he would, meaning that Lucas would be free from the gossip for once. That’s all he wanted.

Life seemed to be going good now that he had dealt with it.

He was currently sat at the bus stop, waiting for the next bus home, seeing as he had missed the bus beforehand (he fully blames Basile for that for many different reasons). It wasn’t too bad outside, so Lucas didn’t mind the waiting. Plus it meant he could play games on his phone for a bit and, hopefully, complete a few levels in one of the games.

He wasn’t paying attention to anything around him, kind of bad seeing as he could miss the bus he’s supposed to be catching, and completely didn’t even realise someone was sitting down next to him, until they bumped shoulders with him, making him jump and look up from his phone to see who it was.

It was definitely worth it, though.

He was greeted with Eliott and his small, cute smile. 

He hadn’t seen him since he spoke to him at lunch, when he made him realise that Ryan was a bigger dick than he had originally thought he was. It was nice to see him again.

“You spoke to Ryan?” Eliott immediately asked, going straight into the drama, if it even was drama.

Lucas nodded. “Yup. Hopefully I got through to him so... all should be good soon.” Lucas responded, smiling at the end.

“That’s good.” Eliott nodded, turning his head to look out at the street in front of them, before turning his head and looking back at Lucas with one of his eyebrows raised. “Did you call him a dick?”

“Of course. And it was so much fun to say.”

Eliott chuckled. “I so wish I could say it to him. At least you did, though.”

“Maybe one day.” Lucas responded, shrugging his shoulders. “It really is an incredible feeling.”

Eliott was quiet for a few moments, clearly thinking about what to say next. When he eventually spoke, Lucas was not expecting for him to say what he did.

“If he’s ever a dick to you again, let me know. I’ll be the first person there.”

Lucas raised his eyebrows in surprise. Surprised that he said he’d be the first person to defend him and surprised that he would actually go up to Ryan. Lucas only did it because he felt brave, but no one does something like that on a daily basis.

“You wanting to seem like a badass or something? Tryna get in my good books?” Lucas teased, making Eliott smile.

“Maybe.” Eliott shrugged one shoulder and, Lucas couldn’t deny, it was adorable. Like really adorable. “Am I not already in your good books?” Lucas shook his head, continuing to tease him, a cheeky smile growing on his face. “Ok, ok. That’ll change. I’ll make sure of it.”

Lucas cocked his head to the side a bit. Where did this confident person come from? This was not the Eliott Lucas had met before. This changed things for Lucas so much. Boy, was he gonna be thinking about this for a while.

“How are you so sure about that?” Lucas continued to tease, genuinely wanting to know the answer.

Turned out, that was the wrong time for the conversation to get to this place, as Eliott stood up as the next bus arrived, clearly being his bus and meaning this was over.

But Eliott couldn’t help turning around quickly, before he got on the bus, responding with, “I just know.”

Lucas scoffed, watching as Eliott got on the bus, sat down and then continuing watching as the bus drove away and down the street.

Lucas was just a mess of emotions on the inside. He had just seen a new side to Eliott and he was only becoming more and more intrigued by him as time went on. He was desperate to know more about Eliott now.

——

Lucas didn’t see Eliott for the next two days. He thought he’d see him around the school, or maybe even briefly talk to him, but there was nothing. It was like he just disappeared on that bus on Monday.

Was it weird that Lucas was missing him? He barely knew him and hadn’t even known him for a week and he was missing him so badly. 

Eliott was definitely something else for Lucas to be feeling this way. He couldn’t stop thinking about him either. This was bad already.

The next time Lucas saw Eliott was from afar. It was Thursday and him and his friends were sat outside on one of the benches, chilling during their lunch break. Thankfully, no one was staring or whispering, meaning that Ryan had fixed everything. Lucas had never felt more free before.

He and his friends had definitely felt the difference. They all loved it, even though it did feel weird. But they were just happy that it was over with. No more gossip.

Basile was in the middle of talking about how Daphne had finally spoke to him earlier and how he was excited about maybe having a chance with her. As usual, all of them were very supportive and were hoping something would happen because Basile deserved someone nice. Especially seeing as he had grown so much as a person over the past year. 

Lucas had briefly looked away to the side in the middle of listening to Basile speak when he saw him.

He was all by himself walking from one side of the building to the other. Lucas had no idea where he as heading seeing as neither of the places were where the canteen was and lessons were not starting up again for another 20 minutes. 

He looked lonely. But, by the way he walked, he seemed like he was closing himself off from the world, hiding like he wanted no one to see him. The words Eliott had spoken on Monday about having no one to talk to flashed in his mind again. 

Maybe Eliott wanted to be alone. Maybe that’s just who he is. That’s sad if that was the case.

Lucas was quickly brought back into what the guys were saying, his mind still on Eliott, replaying the short few seconds he had just seen him over and over again. He tried to seem like his mind wasn’t occupied by anything (or anyone) though.

“Hey, do you think she’d be at the party tomorrow?” Basile asked, perking up at the mere thought of seeing Daphne at some party. How long had Lucas zoned out for? He didn’t know of any party happening tomorrow.

“Seeing as its Emma’s party, I’d definitely say so.” Arthur responded, his tone being slightly sarcastic but teasing as it was very obvious she would be there. They were best friends after all.

Basile just stared back at Arthur, clearly not impressed with how he had spoke and also with a slight glimpse of hope in his eyes. He definitely was hoping things would go somewhere with Daphne at this party.

“Thank god there’s not gonna be a crazy amount of people at this party.” Yann added in, changing the topic slightly. “We don’t want Lucas here being spotted again.” He pointed his thumb at Lucas, a smirk on his face. See, him and his friends hated the gossip, but they were fine with teasing each other about it. They all went through it together seeing as they were practically joined at the hip at this point.

“Oh, ha ha.” Lucas teased back, his voice full of sarcasm. “I would never walk into a room at a party by myself or with someone ever again. You don’t have to worry. I’ve learnt my lesson.”

“What if it’s someone who you want to actually hook up with? You just gonna say no? Stay a virgin forever?” Basile replied, his eyebrows furrowed a bit.

“Baz, I would love if you didn’t just very loudly say I’m a virgin, thank you.” Lucas couldn’t help the small smile that grew on his face. God, his friends were idiots. “And plus I probably wouldn’t at a party because of my “reputation”.” Lucas continued, doing quotation marks at the last word.

“He’s staying a virgin forever.” Arthur said, turning to Basile as he said it.

“You’re annoying. Can we change the conversation please?” Lucas asked, basically begging, which the boys thankfully listened to.

Apparently, Lucas was going to a party tomorrow. From the sounds of it, it’ll be much better than last weeks.

Thinking about last weeks party, made Lucas wonder if Eliott would be going. He couldn’t help that his mind kept going to him. He also didn’t mind that it kept going to him either.

——

Friday went by in a blur - nothing exciting happened at all. But the most exciting thing was still yet to come.

Emma’s party.

Lucas knew absolutely nothing about this party. He had no idea who was invited, where it was, literally nothing. But he knew the boys would be there as well as the girls, so at least he knew he wouldn’t be alone and would be able to have some fun.

At least it won’t be as busy as the other parties they usually go to, as well, seeing as Emma lives in a flat, instead of a house. 

That also means that Lucas can’t just go into an empty room to be by himself because there most likely will not be an empty room. He’s gonna have to face an actual party for once. How fun.

It surprisingly wasn’t too bad when they arrived. There wasn’t a crazy amount of people, most of which were people he knew. The music was decent, there wasn’t a huge crowd of people dancing in the middle of the room, it seemed like everyone was mingling with everyone and just having a really nice time. Emma definitely should have parties more often if they’re like this. Lucas would be a massive fan of them if they were.

He walked into the kitchen to grab a drink, leaning against one of the counters whilst taking a few sips every now and then, watching people. It was quite fun to, actually. Everyone was very chill and just having a great time. What was there not to enjoy watching?

At some point, Basile dragged Lucas out into the main room, making him join in with the dancing. Lucas was not a dancer at all, but he let himself loose for one night and ended up having a lot of fun. He should definitely do this more often at parties (in a less crowded place, however).

After dancing for an extremely long amount of time and having so much fun with all of his friends, Lucas eventually needed to get some air and decided to go out onto the balcony for a couple minutes. He excused himself from his little dancing trio, consisting of himself, Manon and Imane, and headed straight for the balcony, opening the door and walking outside, immediately leaning on the railing, enjoying feeling the cold, night air hit him.

He was having a lot of fun, but he didn’t like the heat of inside. If only that could change.

Lucas was so concentrated on cooling down that he didn’t realise there was someone else on the balcony outside. He only realised when he noticed a bit of smoke next to him, turning around to see who was there.

Of course, the one person it could be was Eliott.

Lucas smiled, looking at Eliott properly in his position, in how he was sat on the floor, his legs sprawled out in front of him, smoking a joint. Seemed like a thing he did at parties considering he was doing the same thing last week.

Lucas moved his foot and nudged Eliott’s which was right in front of his. “Didn’t expect to see you here.” He teased, making Eliott smile a tiny bit.

“Could say the same to you.” Eliott teased back, taking another drag of his joint before holding it out for Lucas to take, which he gladly did take. He didn’t smoke often, but tonight felt different. He wanted to.

Lucas shrugged his shoulders. “Emma’s a childhood friend. I’d be at her party without a doubt... even if I didn’t even know it was a thing until yesterday afternoon.” Lucas took a drag of the joint, holding it out for Eliott to take back.

Eliott chuckled, taking the joint and cocking his head to the side in the adorable way that he does. “I see.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I only came because Lucille told me not to.” He took another drag of the joint, slowly releasing the smoke this time. Lucas, for some reason, was mesmerised, even though he was still confused at what Eliott had just said.

“Who’s Lucille?” He had never once heard of that name before. He genuinely was curious.

Eliott took another quick drag of the joint, handing it back over to Lucas, before responding. “My ex.” He replied simply. 

Lucas took a drag, eyebrows furrowed, still confused. When he didn’t say anything, Eliott decided to continue.

“Imane invited me, I told Lucille, she told me not to come.” Eliott held his hands out in the air. “I’m here.”

“Why did your ex tell you not to come? That sounds a bit...” Lucas trailed off, handing the joint back to Eliott.

“Weird?” Eliott finished for him, raising his eyebrows. “It is.” He took one final drag of the joint, tossing it to the side of the balcony afterwards. “But she’s controlling, even when we’re not together.”

“She was controlling when you were together then?” Lucas asked, hoping he isn’t intruding or asking too personal questions. Eliott didn’t seem to think so or care, nodding in response. “Then why are you still talking to her?”

Eliott shrugged his shoulders. “Because I have no one else. Because I keep taking her back after every time she cheats on me.” Eliott sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. “She’s just waiting for me to take her back.”

“Ok, that’s sad. She sounds like a shitty person. You deserve better than her.” Lucas responded, moving so he was sat next to Eliott, his head facing his direction, looking at him, watching his every move.

“I know. I tell myself every time I’m not gonna get back with her... but there’s no one else there for me. I really only have her. So she stays and controls me.” Eliott turned his head so he was looking at Lucas, his head still leant against the wall behind them. “I always act out against her though.”

“I see that. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here right now.” Eliott chuckled, making Lucas chuckle in return.

The two of them sat in silence for a bit, the noise from the city around them being the only thing audible. They were both looking out at the buildings surrounding them, with Eliott looking up at the night sky every now and then.

Lucas couldn’t help but feel bad for Eliott. He had figured Eliott was alone by the words he had said to him on Monday, but actually hearing Eliott say those words, heading how sad he clearly is about it... he wished he could change it all for him. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy. He didn’t understand why people wouldn’t want to be friends with him.

Instead he was left with a controlling ex. 

Well, not anymore.

“You have me.” Lucas eventually spoke, breaking the silence that had gathered between them, turning to look back at Eliott, who was already looking at him. “You’re not just stuck with her anymore. I’m here if you need someone.”

Eliott smiled a soft smile at Lucas, one that made Lucas feel funny on the inside. Funny, but in a good way. He smiled back, happy that he had made Eliott feel less alone, happy that he let him know he always has Lucas by him. He was well happy to be in Eliott’s life forever. Especially if he smiled at him like that.

“Yeah?” Eliott whispered into the small space between them, the smile not budging from his face.

“Yeah.” Lucas nodded in response.

Things were changing. This one simple moment had caused that. Lucas felt warm on the inside. Something he had never felt before. But he didn’t overthink it. He was just happy that Eliott was happy in this exact moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter hopefully coming by the weekend/during the weekend yet again. This next one is gonna be exciting. Things may be getting further in Lucas and Eliott’s relationship...


	4. Chapter four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I’m here! I’m not late! It’s still Sunday, I just wanted to give people time to watch the clips, talk about it and stuff. I haven’t forgotten about posting my chapter.
> 
> This chapter is a big naff, but I didn’t really know what to write for it as I have planned all the chapters but this one. Hope it’s still decent and alright though!

Lucas was confused.

Last night was such a fun night. He hated parties, but he loved that one. He ended up having a lot of fun with all of his friends, including Eliott. He guessed he could now call him a friend?

Lucas didn’t know what he and Eliott were. They spoke a fair bit and had seen each other a fair bit and they seemed to like each other. But they still barely knew each other. Heck, Lucas still couldn’t find him on any form of social media. He didn’t even know if he used social media. All this searching could be a waste of time.

And yet, the first thing Lucas does once he’s woken up and is sat downstairs at the table, about to eat his breakfast, is head straight to Instagram to try and find his account again.

He was kind of desperate to find him now. He had searched once he had gotten home last night, hoping that one person would have tagged him in a photo or a video, but no one had. That then lead to around an hour of searching any possible thing he could think of to try and find him. No luck.

And as he was sat typing in different variations of the spelling of ‘Eliott’, which he had already tried many times already, he knew he should give up. It was becoming really bad now how badly he wanted to find it. But he knew that his Instagram would give him some form of information into Eliott and his life. Well, more than what he already knew. He was still so intrigued by him.

Especially after last night.

Lucas had no idea what had happened, but he felt something change between them. As they were sat there, on the balcony, enjoying each other’s company, knowing that they now both had each other, he felt it. He didn’t know what the ‘it’ was, but he felt it.

He had an inkling in the back of his brain, trying to tell him what it was, but he ignored it, didn’t want to face that reality yet. It was too soon to face that reality yet... right?

He continued eating his cereal, still trying to find Eliott’s account, when his phone pinged and a notification came up on his screen from the le gang group chat.

_Basile: Last night was AWESOME_

_Basile: Still feel drunk from it_

_Arthur: You did let yourself loose last night_

_Arthur: Really came in strong on Daphne_

_Basile: In a good way?_

_Yann: How drunk were you? We should’ve stopped it_

_Basile: I last remember me and Lucas shimmying_

_Basile: Blurry after that_

_Arthur: Lucas cutting some shapes, I see_

_Yann: He chose Baz over us as well_

_Lucas: I remember Baz handing me another drink and begging me to shimmy with him_

_Lucas: Don’t blame me_

_Arthur: Ah! He lives_

_Arthur: You disappeared last night_

_Basile: Did you hook up with someone at last?_

_Lucas: Haha fuck no_

_Lucas: I was with a friend that’s all_

_Yann: Friends other than us? Who are you right now?_

_Lucas: Shush_

_Arthur: Lucas dancing and having other friends than us?_

_Arthur: Conspiracy theory_

_Arthur: Lucas was abducted by aliens and replaced with an actual alien pretending to be Lucas_

_Basile: I wish that was true_

_Basile: I wanna meet an alien_

_Lucas: I’m me guys, haven’t been abducted_

_Lucas: Not yet anyway_

_Yann: Don’t make anymore friends_

_Yann: Soon you’ll be leaving us_

_Yann: You’ll leave me with Arthur and Baz_

_Arthur: Nothing wring with me, I’m a delight_

_Basile: Yann it’s fine_

_Basile: He’s an alien_

Lucas laughed, locking his phone and placing it face down on the table next to his bowl. His friends were idiots. He loved them to death, but they were idiots.

——

Lucas stayed sat at the table long after he had finished eating his breakfast. He got lost in his phone, checking on everyone’s updates from last night and this morning, checking to see if anything interesting had happened in the world overnight - the typical things he usually checks every morning.

He didn’t hear any footsteps approaching him, so when his mum jumped into the room shouting “Good morning!” at the top of her lungs, Lucas almost fell off of his seat. He wasn’t expecting to see her this early on in the day.

“You alright? Had fun last night?” His mum asked him, moving to lean on the chair at the head of the table. 

Even though it was now only the two of them, she still wanted a full dining set, just in case friends and family wanted to come over. No one ever did though.

“Yeah, it was alright. Less overwhelming and stuff.” Lucas responded plainly, shrugging one of his shoulders and going back to scrolling on his phone. “Had fun though.”

“That’s good to hear.” He heard her respond with, sounding like she was smiling a little. Seems like she was in a very good mood this morning... Should he be worried about this?

Once Lucas realised that she was still leaning on the chair a few minutes later, he looked back up at her, furrowed his eyebrows and asked, “Is there something wrong? Did you wanna talk to me about something? You’re just leaning and not doing anything.”

And it was like Lucas had made something click in her head.

“Oh! Yes!” She responded, moving off of the chair to sit in the chair this time. “Your dad rang me yesterday. Wanted to know why you didn’t turn up last week.” 

Fuck. He knew this would come back to bite him on the ass. He really should’ve messaged him about it.

“It’s just I thought you went to see him. You said you were.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I thought it’d be nice for you two to have a relationship again.”

Lucas sighed, shaking his head a bit, placing his phone down on the table. “I was going to see him... but I couldn’t. He doesn’t care about me.”

“That’s not true! Otherwise he wouldn’t have contacted me.”

Lucas shook his head again. “No, he doesn’t mama. If he did, he would’ve done it months ago. He’s left me behind for this new family of his.”

“Don’t say that. He’s your father.”

“I don’t need a father. We’re doing amazing without him. End of. If I don’t want to see him, I don’t want to see him.” Lucas finished, hoping this would be the end of the conversation and that they’d never bring this up again.

His mum just nodded. “Ok. I’ll respect that decision.” She stood up from her seat, pointing her finger at Lucas, a cheeky smile on her face. “But you have to tell him that.” And then she proceeded to walk out of the room to go get something to eat.

Lucas just shook his head. He would gladly tell his dad that. In fact, he was going to right this minute.

——

Monday came around quickly. Lucas didn’t have a single message off of his dad, so he was happy. Hopefully this week would start off a whole lot better than last week. No rumours to go around, no idiot, big headed boys to shout at... It should be good.

The only thing that he was focusing on was finding Eliott. He hadn’t seen him or heard from him since the party on Friday. They had no way of contacting each other, which was possibly the main reason why, but Lucas still was hoping he’d have seen him. That’s why he was looking carefully at everyone as he walked through the courtyard, making sure he didn’t miss him or walk past him. He wanted to see him, to talk to him about whatever, he didn’t care what. He just wanted to see him.

Lucas headed into one of the buildings to go to his locker, going to get his bio textbook out as he had that first period. No eyes were staring at him, no whispers... It really was going to be a good week. Hopefully he didn’t just jinx that.

He successfully got his textbook, closed his locker and was immediately greeted with a very tall person.

That person being Louis.

His Monday was now ruined. He still did not like Louis. Especially as he is friends with Ryan and things didn’t go very well with him.

“Lucas!” Louis basically shouted, flashing a huge smile at him. “How have you been then bro? Haven’t seen you around in a while.”

Lucas nodded slightly, feeling very uncomfortable being around him and speaking to him. “I’ve been alright, I guess.” He responded, shrugging his shoulders.

“That’s good, that’s good.” He moved so he was standing next to Lucas, wrapping his arm around his shoulders, leading them down the school hallway to god knows where. “So... I wanted to talk to you about Ryan.”

Of course. What else would he want to talk to him about. Surprisingly, it took him longer than Lucas thought it would to have this conversation.

“What about him?”

“Oh, you know. That you basically pressured him into changing what he said about you two. And that you supposedly stated he was assaulting you.”

Lucas shook his head. “I never said he was assaulting me. He just couldn’t take no for an answer.”

“Yeah, but that could’ve just been teasing. Seems like you two have hit it off before.”

“Yeah, and he’s now a dick.” Lucas shrugged Louis’s arm off of his shoulders, turning to face him. “Did you really just come to tell me that I was wrong in what happened? Because I know what happened.”

Louis held both of his hands up in defeat. “Whoa. Calm down there. I ain’t doing anything. I just wanted a nice chat, that’s all.”

“Lucas!” A voice shouted from down the hall, from the way they had both just walked from. Lucas turned his head to see it was Eliott. He was so damn happy to see him, but this time wasn’t exactly the best moment to see him.

He approached the two of them with a smile on his face, only looking at Lucas the whole time. Seeing as Eliott didn’t like Ryan, he assumed he didn’t like his whole friendship group as well. Not surprised there. They’re all as bad as each other.

“Hey. I wanted to talk to you about something.” He spoke, still only looking at Lucas, making something go on inside of him. Something had definitely changed since Friday.

“Uhhh... I’m kind of talking to him right now. So if you don’t mind leaving us.” Louis interrupted, trying to steer Lucas away from Eliott.

“Hey. Who said we had anything to talk about?” Lucas asked Louis, his eyebrows furrowed, in all honesty just trying to escape him. He would far prefer talking to Eliott. “All you’ve said to me is stuff about Ryan. I don’t care about him.”

“Lucas. Come on. You don’t wanna talk to this loner, seriously?” Louis asked, pointing his thumb at Eliott, who was standing there looking really small and soft at the moment. 

Lucas definitely wanted to talk to this ‘loner’.

“I do actually.” He responded, quickly grabbing Eliott’s hand and pulling them down another corridor, far away from Louis.

Once they were a safe distance away, Lucas turned around to face Eliott.

“What’d you wanna speak about?” He asked, looking straight up at Eliott, whose smile hadn’t faltered at all.

Eliott shook his head. “Nothing. I just saw you with Louis and thought you might want to escape. Cause that’s what you do, you know?” Eliott teased, the smile growing the tiniest bit.

Lucas couldn’t help but smile at that. Eliott really went and saved Lucas. He was an angel. A blessing. Lucas was so damn thankful for him.

“Oh.” He responded, not really knowing what else to say. “Thanks.”

“It’s okay. But you should stop getting into those situations with them.”

Lucas chuckled. “I’m trying, trust me.”

The two of them stood there in silence for a few moments, both just looking at each other, not knowing what else to say. It wasn’t awkward. It was actually quite nice.

Eliott was the one to break the silence first, however. “I better get going. I need to talk to my lit teacher.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder, signalling the way he needed to go.

Lucas nodded. “Ok... we’ll talk later, I guess.”

Eliott smiled again. “Yeah. See you.”

He turned around and started walking down the corridor. Lucas couldn’t help but watch as he walked away out of his sight, a small smile on his face.

——

Tuesday didn’t go well either. 

Lucas had woken up late and had also seen his dad had messaged him several times during the night. He didn’t even bother to open them as he knew they would only make his mood worse. Plus, he already knew what they would be about.

He luckily made his classes on time, possibly looking like he had just ran a marathon because he sprinted from the bus stop to get here on time. He was just lucky he was here. Seemed like the universe didn’t want him to be here.

The rest of the day was filled with bad luck: he had forgotten to do his bio homework, he forgot to bring money for lunch, he bumped into Ryan (and very swiftly ignored him) and almost lost his bus ticket (almost meaning it fell out of his pocket and someone saw and gave it back to him. An angel sent from above). Lucas was glad once the day was over. He was going to go home, chill, stuff his face with a bunch of food and sleep. That’s all he has wanted to do since he opened his eyes that morning.

He was leaning against the plastic shield at the bus stop, as all of the seats were unavailable, when his phone buzzed. He leant the side of his head against the plastic, reaching into his pocket to retrieve his phone and rolled his eyes when he saw who it was.

His dad. Yet again.

On his way to ruin his day again.

Lucas still hadn’t opened his texts from earlier and decided to not bother opening this one either. He could see that he was messaging him about going to see him again, but he didn’t want to see him again. Not if she was going to be there. He didn’t want to meet her or see his new life without him. 

He placed his phone back in his pocket, briefly closing his eyes and taking a deep breath in. When will this day get better?

After a few moments, Lucas opened his eyes, only to feel someone prod his arm. He turned to see who it was and, thank the heavens, something good was finally happening.

Eliott was standing next to him, a smile on his face, looking like he had had the best day ever, whereas Lucas had had the complete opposite. He wasn’t jealous in the slightest. Eliott deserved to have a good day. Everyday.

“You okay?” Eliott asked, his smile not budging, looking adorable as always.

Lucas had finally just accepted that things had changed between him and Eliott and that he was going to find things he does adorable and cute from now on. He still didn’t know why, but he was okay with it. Seeing as Eliott is one of the best things in his life at the moment, he wasn’t going to question it further.

“I’ve been better, definitely.” He responded, attempting a small smile at Eliott, trying not to worry him. “You?”

Eliott nodded slightly. “It was alright.” He prodded Lucas’s arm again, softer and more gentle this time. “What’s wrong with you then?”

Of course Eliott would see through him. Why wasn’t he surprised? Everyone could probably see through him at the moment. It was quite obvious he wasn’t in the best mood.

Lucas sighed, looking at the ground between them. “Just... stuff. Nothing you’d wanna hear about.”

“Try me.”

Lucas looked back up at Eliott, only to see something different in his eyes, something challenging yet caring, willing to listen. Lucas would love to just share his whole life story to Eliott, but that would take forever and he didn’t want to burden him with all of it. 

But at the same time, Lucas felt like he wanted to share these things with Eliott, only if he wanted to know, obviously. He knew he could trust him. Maybe he should?

Lucas sighed again, adjusting the straps of his bag on his shoulders. “I dunno. It’s just me having a bad day, I guess.”

Eliott took a few moments to respond, just simply looking Lucas up and down, like he was looking for something. He clearly found what he was looking for.

“Come with me. I know how to make your day better.” And then Eliott set off down the street, past the bus stop, turning around after a while to see if Lucas was following him. Lucas was hesitant at first, but eventually decided to just follow him. What could go wrong here?

——

“Try this. It’s my favourite.” Eliott said, pushing a huge sundae towards Lucas over the table. “It’ll cheer up you, trust me.”

Lucas definitely couldn’t argue with that. It did look absolutely incredible with m&m’s, cookie crumbs, as well as small chunks of cookie dough, and a couple of cherries scattered over the top. It was a sharing sundae, so it was absolutely massive. Lucas couldn’t wait to take a bite.

Lucas picked up his spoon, taking a scoop full of the ice cream and cookie crumbs. “You better be right about this. Otherwise I will be incredibly disappointed in you.” Lucas responded, raising the spoon higher, ready to place it in his mouth. “I may have to question whether this friendship works out otherwise.”

Eliott chuckled. “Just try it.”

Lucas placed the spoon in his mouth, properly tasting everything, taking his time to show Eliott that he was being genuine about what he was saying. 

He may hate to admit it, but Eliott was right. It was the best.

Lucas raised his hand up to cover his mouth, so he was able to talk whilst swallowing the last bits of ice cream. “Oh. My. God. That is heavenly.”

Eliott smiled brightly. “I told you.” He picked up his own spoon, taking a massive scoop and placing it straight in his mouth. 

“It’s definitely made my day better. Thank you.” Lucas smiled at Eliott, watching as he picked up one of the cherries, popping it straight in his mouth. 

“You wanna talk about why your day was bad?” Eliott asked, after swallowing the cherry, looking intently at Lucas. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Lucas sighed, shaking his head. “Just everything went wrong. And dad shit came up. It’s nothing I can’t get over with a sundae.” He took another spoonful of ice cream, placing it straight in his mouth.

“Ok. I won’t ask you anymore, but just know I’m here for you. If you need someone.” Eliott took another spoonful, placing it in his mouth, looking straight at Lucas.

A small smile grew on Lucas’s face. Knowing he had someone there, willing to listen, willing to go through all of his shit and help him out, made him feel warm and happy inside. Knowing he would do the same back to Eliott, knowing that whatever this was between them was special... Today really started off being the worst day, but has very quickly become one of the best.

All because of Eliott.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cute ending. They dumb.
> 
> Hopefully the next chapter will be up by the end of the week as I haven’t got too much to do this week. Don’t quote me on it though. I’m still gonna try.


	5. Chapter five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said this would be up by the end of the week, but I wasn’t ab,e to post it on Friday. However, this chapter is longer and will hopefully be worth it based off of what happens. ;)

Eliott walked Lucas home. Even though Lucas protested as it was quite a walk and was getting quite late, Eliott ignored him and insisted. Lucas eventually just gave in and let him.

The two of them had had a good time after school. They had started getting to know each other more and Lucas was very happy about that. He had always found Eliott intriguing and different from everyone else, so getting to know even a handful of things about him was nice.

He still needed to ask about the whole social media thing though. He still had no luck and had given up trying to find him. Doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to know his username anymore, however.

They came to a halt outside of Lucas’s house around 7pm. It was slowly starting to get darker outside, but Lucas could still see every feature on Eliott’s face clearly. The street lamps were shining in a way that highlighted them so he looked incredible, which is weird seeing as they usually are massively unflattering. That wasn’t the case for Eliott.

“So...” Eliott began, trailing off, placing his hands in his jeans pockets. “This is where we say goodnight, then.”

“I guess so.” Lucas shrugged, looking up at Eliott, who was staring back at him intently.

The same feelings arose that were present during the party on Friday, the same look was in Eliott’s eyes, the same thing that changed was changing even more... Nothing made any sense to Lucas apart from, if Eliott leaned down and kissed him, he wouldn’t be totally against it.

Shit. Maybe he had a crush on Eliott. 

“We should, uh...” Lucas swallowed, trying to keep cool and calm under Eliott’s gaze. “We should do this again sometime. If you want?”

A small smile appeared on Eliott’s face. “I definitely want to. I’d like that.”

“Cool.” Lucas responded, a smile growing on his face, still trying to act completely calm in this situation.

Neither of them were looking away, but neither of them were doing anything. It was like they were both locked in a trance, staring into each other’s eyes like their lives depended on it. Lucas would be fine with that. Eliott’s eyes were very pretty. Especially with the street lights hitting his face in a certain way.

The moment was eventually broken by the sound of someone coughing coming from behind Lucas. Normally, something like this wouldn’t affect Lucas at all. But, strangely, the coughing sounded very familiar.

Lucas hadn’t even turned around when the person had started to speak. 

“Hello Lucas.”

When Lucas finally turned around, he was greeted by his dad. Standing outside his house. For some random reason. On a Tuesday night.

“Dad?” Lucas asked, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“You weren’t answering my texts.” His dad shrugged. “Can we talk? I can give you a minute to say goodbye to your friend here.”

Lucas rolled his eyes, turning back to face Eliott, knowing he was going to regret everything that was about to happen.

“Sorry. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow? Maybe?” Lucas asked, hoping Eliott would say yes and Lucas had something to look forward to so he could get through this horrific conversation with his dad.

Eliott nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ll see you.” And with that, Eliott flashed one last smile at Lucas, before turning around and walking down the street, out of the light and into the darkness.

——

Lucas slammed his bedroom door, leaning back against it and sliding down so he was sat on the floor, his knees in front of him. He leant his head back on the door, taking a deep breath in to try and calm himself down.

The conversation with his dad didn’t go well. He knew why he had come to see him and what they were going to talk about, but Lucas couldn’t contain himself. He was having a great evening with Eliott and, of course, something had to come and ruin it.

The amount of times Lucas had told his dad that he didn’t want to meet his new partner, didn’t want to see his new life, that he didn’t care about him... And his dad didn’t even listen to a single word he had said, just shouting back anything. Thank god his mum wasn’t home as she would not have been able to deal with all of that. In fact, she would’ve been in a worse state that Lucas would’ve had to push all of his feelings aside just to comfort her.

He didn’t even ask his dad to leave. He hasn’t heard the door close but he also hasn’t heard any noise come from downstairs. He hopes he leaves.

Two weeks ago, Lucas had a decent relationship with his dad. Now, he doesn’t. He isn’t even that upset about it. In his head, his dad stopped caring months ago.

Lucas felt a few tears roll down his face and he wiped at them furiously, not wanting to be hurt by him. He didn’t want to be sad. He wished he could go back to 30 minutes ago when he was still with Eliott, when he was so incredibly happy, when he was having the time of his life... It’s funny how quickly things can change.

Lucas sat there for a few minutes, breathing in and out slowly, trying to clear his head, calm himself down. He continued to listen outside to hear if his dad was still there or if he had gone. He wanted to know he could leave without having another argument or crying. He still heard nothing. He didn’t leave, however, because he didn’t want to risk it.

As soon as he had calmed down and his emotions weren’t all over the place anymore, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He hesitated for a moment before moving to get it out of his jeans just in case it was his dad. He didn’t want to talk to him anymore, no matter what.

It wasn’t his dad.

It was Eliott.

The two of them had exchanged numbers earlier, which was progress. It meant that Lucas could talk to Eliott whenever he wanted, even if he didn’t see him at school. He knew he had him to talk to whenever. He would listen. He would care.

He opened the chat and smiled when he saw the message.

_Tonight was fun, can’t wait to see you tomorrow :)_

Lucas leant his head back against the door, letting his hand fall to the floor beside him, still clutching his phone with their chat open on it.   
Eliott wanted to see him tomorrow. They usually just randomly bump into each other throughout the week, but it seemed like Eliott was going to search for him and go up to him, flashing the signature smile he always does. Something happened inside of him knowing that.

He ignored what had happened within the last 15 minutes and focused on Eliott. The one good, incredible, amazing thing in his life at the moment. 

And it was in that moment, thinking about earlier, about how close they were, about how Eliott looked incredible under the street lamps, about how he wouldn’t have protested if Eliott had leaned down and kissed him, that Lucas realised he was in too deep without knowing that feelings had become involved.

——

“I’ve been thinking about going to the gym. Try and get more fit, ya know?” Basile randomly said, changing the conversation very quickly as he always does.

“More fit for Daphne? Or just for yourself?” Arthur asked, taking a bite of a cereal bar. “Because you don’t need to change for her.”

“I wanna look good for her! That’s all!”

Arthur shook his head. “Nope. Bad idea.”

“You don’t think she’d like you for how you look now?” Lucas asked Basile, even though he already knew what Basile’s response was going to be.

“No.” He responded without hesitating, exactly as Lucas thought he would respond. “She needs a man. I am not one.”

Lucas rolled his eyes, taking the last bite of his sandwich. The boys were currently sat outside having their lunch. It was a nice day so they were able to. Lucas was kinda happy to see the boys. Seeing as yesterday was not a good day at school for him, he didn’t spend much time with them. He was in a good mood today. He was happy to see his best friends be their weird selves again.

However, Lucas couldn’t help but be distracted still.

Eliott said yesterday that he would see Lucas today, but he hasn’t seen him around school once. He was hoping that what Eliott said would be true, but it didn’t seem like that was going to be the case. He couldn’t help but think back to it and hope that he would see him soon. Lunch was most likely the best time to see him, but so far, no luck.

He hadn’t lost any hope. There was still time.

“Do you even know where the gym is Baz?” Yann teased, making Basile look offended.

“Of course I do! It’s like a two minute walk away from McDonald’s.” Basile responded.

“He only knows that because he goes to McDonald’s all the time.” Arthur continued to tease, pointing at Basile whilst talking to Yann.

“Their chicken nuggets are the best! You can’t deny it!”

“Post workout meal planned then?” Lucas decided to join in with the teasing, making Yann and Arthur laugh, whilst Basile just smiled. He knew they were only teasing and didn’t mean it. He was usually the worst of it.

“That’s not actually a bad idea.” Basile responded, raising one eyebrow and smirking.

“With that mentality, you’re gonna do great at the gym.” Arthur said, throwing his arm around Basile’s shoulder. Basile smiled in response, elbowing Arthur slightly in the side.

And it was at that moment that Eliott decided to appear.

He had only just left one of the buildings and was checking his phone, looking at something. Hadn’t even looked up and seen that Lucas was sat not too far away from where he was standing. 

Lucas couldn’t help but stand up and go see him, even though he knew his friends would be teasing him about it for days. He definitely couldn’t tell them he had a crush on him. Nope. That would be a very bad idea.

Lucas walked over to him, knowing the boys were watching, already whispering about what was going on, and poked Eliott in the side, making him look up and smile his infamous smile at him. 

“Hey.” Lucas spoke, a smile already on his face. He was very happy to see him.

“Hey.” Eliott responded, placing his phone in his pocket. “I said I’d see you at school. I was right.” Eliott teased, holding one of the straps of his backpack.

“More like I saw you. You were too distracted to notice me. Which I’m slightly offended by, can I just add.”

Eliott chuckled. “I would’ve seen you. Lucille messaged me. Tried to make plans with me, hoping this would lead to us getting back together.”

Lucas raised his eyebrows. “You definitely not getting back with her this time then?” Eliott shook his head. “Well, good for you. As I said, you deserve much better.”

Eliott shrugged his shoulders, in that weirdly adorable way he did. Damn Lucas, reign it in a bit.

“I dunno. I just think there’s someone better for me out there. Just waiting for the right moment.”

Lucas held his breath. Was he overthinking this? Was he getting his hopes up? Should he stop freaking out? This was probably nothing. He doesn’t like anyone at this school... right? 

Lucas raised his eyebrows, trying to seem like he was freaking out internally. “So there’s someone you like then, hmm?” He poked Eliott in the side, teasingly, still trying to act cool and like his insides weren’t all messed up. 

Eliott cocked his head to the side a bit. “Maybe there is.”

Oh. Should he be getting his hopes up? Could he help that he was getting his hopes up? 

“Well...” Lucas began, trailing off, looking down at the ground before looking back up at Eliott. “They’ll be one very lucky person, I’ll tell you that.”

A small, intimate smile grew on Eliott’s face and the way he was looking at Lucas became a lot more intense. Lucas couldn’t help but continue to freak out. It definitely seemed like he was hinting at something and, based off of what was happening right now, Lucas’s hopes were sky high. Everything he felt last night came rushing back to him.

Only they were rudely interrupted by Basile, of course. Who else would cock block Lucas?

“Hi!” Basile began, talking very very loudly, holding his hand out to Eliott. “I’m Basile. I don’t think we’ve met before.”

Eliott smiled, turning to look at Basile. Lucas couldn’t help but feel slightly upset.

“No, I’m Eliott.” He responded, shaking Basile’s hand.

“So you and Lucas are friends, no?” Basile asked, looking between the two of them with a glance of hope written in his face.

“We are, yeah.” Lucas responded, turning to look fully at Basile, trying to make it clear he wanted to be left alone with Eliott. For many reasons.

“Oh! That’s so cool!” Basile responded, turning to look at Eliott, ignoring Lucas’s stares. “Uhh... I was wondering if you’d wanna come to a party with us. On Saturday.” Before Eliott could even respond, Basile was back speaking again. “By us I mean us two and those two sat over there. I know you don’t know me or the other two, but you seem cool - really cool, in fact - and any friend of Lucas is welcome to hang out with us, anytime, anywhere.” Lucas placed his hand on Basile’s shoulder, signalling for him to shut up.

Eliott was going to think Lucas was friends with weirdos. Well, he was and wouldn’t change them for anything, but not when he was hoping something could happen. 

Eliott didn’t seem to care though. “Yeah, sure. That sounds fun.” Eliott responded, smiling at Basile.

“Cool! So Lucas will tell you the details and stuff.” Eliott nodded, the smile not budging from his face. “Oh, I can’t wait. We’re gonna be such great friends!”

“Baz...” Lucas began, trailing off, not even wanting to finish his sentence.

“Uh, anyway, I better go get some lunch.” Eliott spoke, pointing towards the direction of the canteen. “It was nice meeting you.” Eliott turned to Lucas after speaking, a different, more intimate smile for him. “We’ll speak later.”

Lucas nodded slightly, a small, shy smile growing on his face.

Once Eliott was out of earshot, Lucas turned to Basile, hitting him lightly on the arm. “Why?”

——

Friday came quickly and flew by quickly. Everything was uneventful apart from the boys asking about Eliott. They were already scheming about how to get the two of them together. Lucas acted like he was annoyed by it, but he wasn’t. He knew he liked Eliott. It wouldn’t hurt to let the boys attempt to come up with a plan that will ultimately fail anyway.

Nothing else happened apart from that. He didn’t bump into Ryan or Louis or any of their friends, which he was very thankful for. Apparently they were having a bit of a feud with some other boys in school, so they were busy dealing with that. Lucas was happy with that.

But now, it was Friday and Lucas was walking out of school when he saw Eliott not too far in front of him, clearly heading towards the bus stop. Lucas had been trying to think of an excuse for the two of them to hang out together again, but he hadn’t thought of one. The two of them had been talking a fair bit though, so maybe he should just straight up ask him? Worse he could say is no.

Lucas continued walking towards the bus stop, with Eliott far ahead of him because of his long legs and big strides. It was fine though. As long as he got there before his bus arrived, it was fine.

Lucas was too busy focusing on walking to the bus stop before the bus, that he didn’t even realise his phone buzzed in his pocket. He wanted to look to see who it was, but knew he could possibly miss Eliott if he stopped and checked, so he chose to ignore it, hoping it wasn’t anything important.

He eventually reached the bus stop, stopping right next to Eliott, smiling up at him. “Hey.”

Eliott turned his head and immediately smiled when he saw it was Lucas. “Hey. You okay?” 

Lucas nodded, nervously adjusting the straps of his bag on his shoulders. “You? You got any plans tonight?” Very subtle. But then again, Lucas did decide to just straight up ask him.

“Ah, no.” Eliott replied, playing with his phone in his hands. “Just gonna be by myself at home. I’ll probably just watch a film or something... You doing anything? Any wild parties?” He teased, leaning closer the tiniest bit more.

Lucas shook his head. “By myself as well. I’ll probably do the same thing, actually.”

“A wild life we live.” Eliott smirked, looking down at his phone in his hands that he was still playing with.

Lucas chuckled. “Yeah.” He shrugged his shoulders, trying to seem casual and like Lucas had just come up with this idea on the spot. “Hey! If you’re not doing anything and I’m also not, wanna maybe do something together?” Eliott looked back up at Lucas. “We could just chill at mine if you want. My mum won’t be home tonight.”

Eliott took a few seconds before he responded, seeming to think his response through. Thankfully, he responded just as the bus was pulling up. “Yeah, sure.” Eliott smiled at him.

“Great.” Lucas smiled back, pointing towards the bus that had now stopped by the bus stop. “Let’s go then.”

——

Lucas opened the front door, letting Eliott walk through first, before following and shutting the door, throwing his bag down on the floor and heading towards the living room.

“Make yourself at home.” Lucas said, spinning on the spot in the middle of the room to look at Eliott. “You want anything to drink? We’ve got coke, lemonade, water?”

“Just coke please.” Eliott responded, flopping down onto the sofa. Lucas nodded, turning to head into the kitchen to get some drinks and food.

The bus was delayed getting to their stop, meaning that it’s nearing 6 o’clock already and Lucas was ready for some food. They had decided they were going to watch Love, Simon on the bus journey here, which was one of Lucas’s favourite movies. Eliott, however, hadn’t actually seen the movie yet, but had always wanted to. It was the perfect opportunity to show it him.

Lucas poured two glasses of coke, walking in to hand Eliott his and to place his own on the table, before walking back into the kitchen to grab some snacks. He walked back into the living room, throwing all of the snacks at the sofa (and Eliott, who actually caught all of the ones Lucas accidentally threw at him), before going to set the tv up with the film on.

Lucas sat on the sofa next to Eliott, not too close but also not too far away. He was definitely overthinking it, but he couldn’t stop it.

“You excited?” Lucas asked, placing a crisp in his mouth, turning to face Eliott. Eliott nodded. “Well, lets go then.”

And Lucas pressed play on the film.

The two of them only made commentary throughout every now and then, both of them too invested in the film. It was a really good film though.

Every now and then, Lucas looked across at Eliott, when he was fully engrossed in the film, to see what his reaction to it was. He seemed to be enjoying it every time he looked at him, which made Lucas happy. He was enjoying one of Lucas’s favourite movies and that’s all he cared about.

As the film ended and the credits started to play, Lucas turned the tv off, moving so he was leaning his elbow on the back of the sofa, turning to look at Eliott.

“So,” Lucas began, watching as Eliott took the final sip of coke before turning to fully face Lucas. “What did you think?”

“I thought it was great. Worth the wait.” He responded, a small smile on his face.

Lucas raised his eyebrows. “Only great? It’s one of the best movies.”

Eliott chuckled, shrugging one of his shoulders. “If you say it is, it is.”

“Oh, it is.” Lucas moved his hand to poke Eliott’s knee from where it was right in front of him. “You clearly don’t have a good taste in films.”

Eliott leaned forward a little, so his elbows were resting on his knees in front of him. He was smiling, still staring straight at Lucas. “You don’t know my taste in films.” 

“I don’t need to to know you don’t have a good taste in films.” Lucas braved to lean forward a little, meaning the two of them were now even closer. Lucas could feel his breath on his face very faintly.

“Maybe I should show you one day.” His voice was quieter now, based off of the fact they were very close to each other now.

“I’d like that.” Eliott smiled. “To prove you have no taste in films.”

Eliott chuckled. “Lucas Lallemant, I will prove you wrong one day.” And Eliott then inched a tiny bit closer still.

Lucas was finding it hard to be calm. Only a few days ago, he realised he had feelings for Eliott, now they were mere inches apart. This was a lot.

“Eliott Demaury, that day will unfortunately never come.”

Eliott raised his eyebrows. “It will. Trust me.”

Lucas didn’t know how to respond to that. Things had changed very quickly in the space of a few minutes and Lucas didn’t know what to do. He could tell that the tension was thick around them. He could see Eliott staring straight at him, straight into his eyes, daring him to move, to say something. Lucas was frozen to the spot. 

He could feel Eliott’s breath on his face, he could only see Eliott’s face they were so close to each other. His heart was freaking out inside of him and he so hoped Eliott would move forward the tiny space in front of them and actually kiss him...

Apart from his mum decided to walk through the front door at that exact moment, breaking the moment between the two, the space between the two of them growing again. Lucas couldn’t help but feel sad at that.

His mum walked into the living room, freezing once she saw Eliott sat there. “Hiya sweetie.” She smiled at Lucas.

“Hi.” Lucas responded, smiling back even though he was slightly annoyed at being interrupted. “How come you’re home early?”

“Oh, I went and they said they didn’t need to see me. I messaged you.”

Oh yeah. Lucas had forgot to check his phone since he left school. “I didn’t see it. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t know you had company.”

Lucas looked at Eliott, who was looking back at him, a hint of a smile on his face. He was clearly waiting to be introduced.

“Uh, yeah. This is Eliott. He’s a... uh, friend.” Lucas spoke, hating having to say the word “friend” when not too long earlier things were different.

“Oh, hi. I’m Marie, Lucas’s mum. It’s nice to meet you.” She walked over to Eliott, holding her arms out a bit and leaning down for a hug. She wasn’t a handshake kind of person. 

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Eliott responded, a big smile now plastered on his face, hugging her back.

“Well, I wont interrupt anymore. I’m gonna go make some pasta as I haven’t eaten yet. Would the two of you like some?” 

“Uhhh... we actually just ate a lot watching a film, but thanks anyway.” Lucas responded. His mum walked past, stopping to ruffle his hair a bit, before continuing to walk through to the kitchen to make some pasta.

“She seems nice.” Eliott said, as soon as she was out of earshot.

Lucas smiled. “She is. The best person I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm... this next chapter might be very interesting...


	6. Chapter six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so it’s been a while. I’ve had zero motivation over the past week or so and finally started writing again the other day, meaning the next chapter is finally here! It’s not too long, but I think it was worth the wait. ;)

“Lucas!” Basile shouted from the kitchen of his house. “Here you go!” He appeared in the entryway to the kitchen, holding out a beer for him. They were currently having pre’s at Basile’s as his parents were out for the evening. 

Lucas walked over taking the bottle. “Thanks.” He took a swig, before asking, “how many have you already had?”

Basile just shrugged and started laughing.

“He always lets himself go before parties. Just let him do him as always.” Yann spoke from where he was sat on the sofa next to Arthur.

“Hey. I’m doing fine at the moment. I still only see three people in this room. Even though there should be four. Where the hell is Eliott?” Basile turned to face Lucas, pointing a finger at him, expecting him to know the exact whereabouts of Eliott.

Lucas shrugged. “I dunno. He messaged saying he was on his way.”

“Ooh, I cannot wait to become best friends with him!” Basile exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air.

“I’m being replaced then.” Arthur said, taking a sip from his own beer, chuckling slightly with Yann.

“You’ve got me and Lucas. You’ll be fine.” Yann threw an arm around his shoulders, the two of them still chuckling slightly.

“Ah, no. Seems like he’s also got Eliott as well. Keeping him a secret from us.” Arthur pointed a finger at Lucas, whilst taking another sip of his beer.

Lucas rolled his eyes. “I didn’t keep him a secret from you.” Lucas shrugged. “It just never came up in conversation.”

“Cause he’s ashamed of us.”

Lucas rolled his eyes again. “You’re all idiots.” He mumbled, taking another swing of his beer, right as the doorbell rang.

“Eliott!” Basile practically shouted, before running towards the front door to let him in.

“We’re gonna have to keep an eye on him aren’t we?” Yann asked, looking at Arthur before looking at Lucas. “He’s gonna be wasted.”

“It’s kind of funny though.” Lucas shrugged again, smiling at the thought of Basile doing some stupid shit again at another party. One time he climbed on top of a cabinet to prove he was the best dancer there and actually fell off it in the middle of shuffling. It was absolutely hilarious. He didn’t even remember it in the morning.

Basile walked into the room, followed by Eliott straight after, who stopped right next to Lucas, leaning on the wall right next to him.

“You want a beer?” Basile asked, almost tripping up on his way over to the kitchen. Eliott nodded, smiling.

Lucas turned to face Eliott, already freaking out internally about how close he was standing to him. He took a deep breath in, before asking, “You okay?”

Eliott nodded, smiling that usual smile he always does. “You?”

Lucas nodded in response, smiling back at him.

They were rudely interrupted by Basile coming back into the room, handing Eliott a beer. “Dude, I am so happy you decided to come with us. We’re gonna have the most amazing time, seriously!”

Eliott chuckled, taking his first sip of his beer.

“Baz,” Arthur asked, leaning fully back into the sofa now. “How many people do you see in this room now?”

“Six. Oh shit.” All four of the boys laughed as Basile attempted to make his way over to the chair on the other side of the room, holding his hands out like it was filled with obstacles.

It wasn’t though.

“Just a heads up,” Lucas began, turning to Eliott and speaking quietly, so only the two of them could hear. “Baz is crazy at parties and can be very intense. I won’t leave your side though. Unless you feel like you can handle that?” Lucas teased, gesturing at Basile who had successfully made it over to the seat, sitting down very slowly.

Eliott chuckled. “I wouldn’t mind having you by my side all night.” 

Yeah, he was gonna have to stop saying stuff like that. Lucas couldn’t breathe for a second. Tonight was gonna be fun.

——

As they always do once they arrive at parties, they head straight to the kitchen to get a drink. Basile definitely did not need a drink, but as always, he ends up getting one and heading straight into the main room to mingle and dance. The other boys lingered around for a bit, each of them choosing what to drink, before Arthur and Yann went to go find Basile to stop him from doing something absolutely stupid and embarrassing himself.

Lucas and Eliott stayed in the kitchen. The both of them knew they weren’t big fans of parties, as they clearly found out from the last party they were at, yet they still came despite it. 

Maybe it was because Lucas just liked to see his friends drunk. Maybe it was because Lucas liked to get drunk occasionally and this was a good way to do it. Eliott’s reasons were unknown. Lucas was happy he was here, though, so he wasn’t all by himself for once.

“Your friends seem cool.” Eliott said, breaking the silence that had gathered over the two of them. Lucas was sat on the counter so he was almost Eliott’s exact height. It was different to see Eliott like this, but he really liked it at the same time.

Lucas nodded. “They are.” He shrugged his shoulders, taking a sip of his drink. “They’re also the biggest bunch of weirdos I know.”

Eliott chuckled. “The best kind of friends to have then.”

“Oh for sure. Especially when Baz starts telling us all about his sex life.” Lucas chuckled, taking another sip of his drink.

“Oh god. I hope I never get to hear that.” 

“Well, don’t stay around us too long. That boy is already hammered. I dread to think of what he’s going to be doing tonight.”

Eliott chuckled again. “More reasons to stay then.” He shrugged one of his shoulders, his signature move as he does it a heck of a lot, taking a sip of his drink and leaning a tiny bit closer to Lucas. 

Lucas couldn’t help but shift over on the counter the tiniest bit so they were even closer.

——

A couple hours into the party and Lucas and Eliott were heading upstairs to attempt to escape the noise and the craziness coming from downstairs. They were hoping there would be an empty room they could chill in, or even a bathroom - just somewhere quiet for them to have a breather and calm down.

Lucas had had a few drinks at this point so Eliott was leading the way, holding tightly onto Lucas’s hand, making sure he didn’t fall at any point. Lucas couldn’t help the feeling inside him at the two of them holding hands, he couldn’t ignore the tingle he felt as they were holding hands, he couldn’t ignore anything about Eliott at this moment. 

The two of them headed down the corridor, knocking on the doors to make sure there was no one in them. After going past two doors and hearing several noises coming from them, they finally found a room that was quiet and entered.

It seemed like this was one of the spare rooms in the house as it was basic decorations and only had a bed and a wardrobe on the one wall. Nothing else.

Lucas immediately headed towards the bed, crawling over to sit cross-legged in the middle, facing the head of the bed. He moved his head to look at Eliott, holding out his arm, signalling to come join him. Eliott took the final sip of his drink, placing it on the window sill, before crawling on the bed to sit directly opposite Lucas, cross-legged as well.

Lucas grabbed a hold of Eliott’s hand again, resting it in his lap. “I’m glad you’re here tonight.” Lucas spoke quietly, looking down at their hands. “I usually get left and end up having no fun.” He looked up at Eliott, who had a small, soft looking smile on his face, looking directly at Lucas. “At least I have someone tonight.”

Eliott’s smile grew after Lucas had finished speaking and intertwined their fingers so they were fully holding hands now. “I’m glad as well. It’s definitely a lot more fun with you.”

Lucas smiled back in response, looking back down at their locked hands. 

He was happy right now.

Part of it may be the alcohol running through him, but it was mainly because of the boy sat right in front of him. He was so different to everyone else he knew and was one of the best people he knew. How did he get so lucky to get to know him?

Lucas looked back up at Eliott, only to see him staring back, his gaze intense, taking Lucas’s breath away for a few seconds. The two of them sat there, looking at each other for a few moments, before Eliott shifted forward the tiny gap between them, so their legs were now fully touching the others. 

Lucas felt Eliott squeeze his hand slightly, making him briefly look back down at their hands, before back at Eliott, who was slowly getting closer and closer to Lucas. Yet again, things had changed very quickly. Lucas didn’t know how to react.

“How drunk are you right now?” Eliott asked Lucas, his voice basically a whisper from how quiet he was talking. Lucas could hear every word clear as day from how close they were to each other.

Lucas shook his head slightly, his eyes never leaving Eliott’s once. “Not a lot.”

“So you’d remember what would happen in the morning?” Eliott moved closer the tiniest bit more, his face mere inches away from Lucas’s now. He could feel Eliott’s breath on his face. He could see Eliott’s eyes quickly glance down at his lips before looking back at his eyes.

Was this actually happening right now?

“Yes. Definitely.” Lucas whispered, quickly looking at Eliott’s lips, hoping he was going to do what he thought he was going to do.

Eliott smiled. “Good.”

His hand left Lucas’s and moved to cup his cheek, before leaning in and pressing his lips to Lucas’s. And, even though Lucas was expecting it, he was still shocked and surprised that Eliott was kissing him.

And he was kissing him back.

It was only innocent. Closed mouthed, soft, gentle. But it lit Lucas up all over at how incredible it was.

Eliott leant back first, not moving very far away at all. They were still mere inches apart from each other. Clearly both of them needed more. And as Eliott began to lean back in, and Lucas closed his eyes again, ready and waiting, he felt Eliott’s lips graze over his softly...

... before a loud commotion coming from the other side of the door broke the trance they were in.

Both of them moved back slightly, turning to look at the door, only as Basile barged in, almost falling over in the process.

“Lucas! Eliott!” He shouted, throwing both hands up in the air. “What are you doing up here? The party’s downstairs! Come on!” Basile moved to walk back into the corridor, before quickly stopping and pointing at Eliott. “Hey, have you got anything to smoke?”

Eliott nodded in response.

“Great! Meet outside in a minute, yeah?” And he left without hearing a response from Eliott.

Lucas turned back around to face Eliott, who was already looking at Lucas, his face asking him a question, wanting to know whether it’d be okay to leave.

He sighed, grabbing Eliott’s hand again, climbing off the bed, pulling Eliott along with him, out the room and down the corridor to go meet his friends. All the time, he felt Eliott close behind him and could feel the happiness radiating off of him.

Lucas couldn’t deny that he felt the exact same level of happiness.

——

Lucas walked downstairs, a big smile on his face, ignoring the slight headache he had from the night before, and headed towards the kitchen. He could hear the radio playing and could smell some eggs being cooked, meaning his mum was doing fantastic and was having a good morning. Just like Lucas was.

Last night was incredible. He was still on a high from his kiss with Eliott. Even though the rest of the night they were surrounded by his friends, he didn’t care. Eliott stayed by his side the whole time and even made sure he got home okay. They had been messaging all morning and Lucas was in the best mood. It all felt like a dream.

He entered the kitchen, seeing his mum place two fried eggs onto some toast with a big smile on her face. He was happy to see her happy. He always was.

She turned around, smiling when she saw Lucas, and handed him one of the plates with one of the eggs and piece of toast.

“Thought you might want something after last night.” She simply spoke, picking up her own plate and heading out of the kitchen, quickly kissing Lucas’s cheek. She always ate her breakfast in bed as she wishes she could have breakfast in bed everyday. It’s the only way she can have her wish.

Lucas smiled, sitting down at the counter. “Thank you.” He responded quietly, before tucking in.

His mum truly was the best.

Halfway through his food, his phone started ringing where it was placed next to his plate and he smiled when he saw who it was. 

Eliott.

Without hesitating, Lucas immediately picked up the phone, a big smile on his face. “Hey.” 

“Hey!” Eliott responded, his voice full of happiness, calming Lucas straight away. “You doing anything?”

“No.” Lucas took a small bite of his egg. “Why?”

“I wanna see you. Can I come over?”

“Sure. You can come whenever.” 

“Okay. I’ll be there shortly. Can’t wait to see you.” 

Lucas’s smile grew even more. “I can’t wait to see you too.”

“That’s good to hear.” Eliott teased. Lucas could hear a door close through the phone, signalling that Eliott was already on his way to his house. “I’ll see you.”

“Yeah.” Lucas responded softly, ending the call and finishing his food. Eliott would most likely be here by the time he had finished and had gone and quickly brushed his teeth, so it would work out perfectly.

Just as Lucas had finished eating, his mum walked back into the kitchen with her own plate, heading towards the sink to wash up. Even though they have a dishwasher, his mum swears by hand washing everything. Lucas doesn’t even remember a time they have used the dishwasher. 

As she’s filling the sink up, Lucas finishes the last of his orange juice (his mum had very kindly poured a glass and left it on the counter before he had even come downstairs earlier) and spoke. “Eliott’s coming round in a minute. Just thought I’d let you know.”

His mum turns the taps off, picking up her plate and dunking it in the sink to wash it up. “Oh! The one who was round the other day?” She asked, not turning around, too focused on washing up.

“Yeah.” 

“Oh, he’s nice.” She finishes washing up her plate, turning around to grab Lucas’s dishes. “Do you want me to prepare any snacks for you two or...?”

Lucas shook his head. “No, we’ll be fine. Thanks though.”

His mum turns around to quickly smile at him, before going back to finishing the washing up. Lucas takes this as he cue to quickly run to the bathroom and brush his teeth. As he’s wiping his mouth, he hears the doorbell and legs it to the front door.

“Hey.” Lucas answered, a smile on his face at seeing Eliott again so soon.

“Hey.” Eliott responds, a smile already on his face. He steps forwards so the two of them are extremely close to each other, before leaning down and kissing Lucas. It was the exact same as last night and it was still as incredible.

Lucas could get used to this. He had know idea what ‘this’ was, but he could get used to it.

——

Lucas walked into school on Monday in the best mood. He hadn’t been this happy in a long, long time. It finally happened again then.

Eliott had stayed all day on Saturday and had even met up with Lucas on Sunday for some lunch. They hadn’t spoken about what they were, but it was nice to just spend time with Eliott (and kiss him as well). He was more than looking forward to seeing him again today.

The two of them had texted each other this morning, making plans yet again to have lunch together. Lucas was hoping that they could actually talk about what they were seeing as the two of them were interested in the other. He didn’t want to seem awkward about it though. 

Lucas walked into the building, heading towards his locker and something felt off. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but it did falter his good mood the tiniest bit. He decided to just ignore it and continue heading to his locker, retrieving one of his textbooks he had left there, before closing the door and heading towards his first lesson.

The off feeling stayed with him the whole way to his first lesson. He still couldn’t put his finger on it and it was really annoying him. But he pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, deciding to focus on his lessons and look forward to seeing Eliott again.

However, it became harder to ignore every time he left a room to head to another one.

The feeling became stronger every time. It felt familiar. It was only when he was sat outside, waiting for Eliott, did he understand what the feeling was.

Two girls walked past, whispering to each other, looking over at Lucas every now and then. He couldn’t hear what they were saying but he definitely knew his name was whispered.

Shit. The gossip was back.

Just as Lucas was trying to figure out what the gossip could possibly be about, his phone buzzed in his pocket, informing him straight away.

Yann: _People are saying you and Eliott hooked up on Friday_

_They saw the two of you walk into a room together_

_I’m sorry_

Fuck. 

Guess Eliott wasn’t turning up for lunch then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops... sorry.


	7. Chapter seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’s this? Another chapter a few days after the last? Why, yes it is. I, for some reason, have been writing a lot over the past few days and was able to get this done. May as well just get it out there now that it’s done, rather than wait you know?
> 
> Anyway, this chapter is angst and I’m sorry about that. Very sorry about it.

Lucas hadn’t seen Eliott all day. He had messaged him, but did not receive one response from him. He had called him whenever he was free and knew Eliott was free, but it always went to voicemail. He needed to talk to him.

Lucas knew Eliott hadn’t had a good experience with previous relationships, so he knew Eliott would be affected by the rumour being spread. But he didn’t think he would completely cut him off.

He needed to explain things to him. Let him know he didn’t say anything, let him know he would never say anything like this about him, let him know that he genuinely cared for him and wanted to be with him.

He also needed to explain the whole fake reputation and rumours thing. That everything he maybe had heard about previous people and hook-ups Lucas had supposedly had were completely false. It’s only to let him know and understand that Lucas does like him. A lot.

When it came to the end of the day and the final bell rang, Lucas knew he only had a matter of minutes before he would lose his chance of actually seeing Eliott, being able to talk to him. He always went to the same bus stop and Lucas just needed to stop him on his way there to explain things.

He legged it out of the classroom, down the stairs, out of the building and straight towards the gate, hoping Eliott had not had a chance to leave yet. If he had missed his chance... he would be so upset.

After standing there for a few minutes, looking carefully at everyone who walked through the gates, he finally caught sight of Eliott and his brown jacket, waiting for the right moment to approach him.

“Eliott!” Lucas shouted as soon as Eliott was walking through the school gate, only a few people left walking around him.

Eliott immediately looked up at Lucas, froze, before turning and heading straight to the bus stop, ignoring Lucas’s presence.

“Eliott! Please, just let me talk.” Lucas begged, jogging to catch up with Eliott. (Damn him and his long legs. Lucas could never catch up with him.)

He eventually reached him, grabbing hold of his arm gently, making him stop and turn around to face him.

“What?” Eliott spoke, his voice a lot harsher than Lucas had ever heard it before. He hated it.

“Please, just let me talk to you, explain things.”

“Explain what? That you’ve gone around telling people we’ve had sex?” Eliott responded, crossing his arms in front of him. 

Lucas knew the rumour that was going around. He, however, did not know that people were saying it came from Lucas. Whoever started it was an actual dumbass.

“I...” Lucas trailed off, taking a deep breath in to try and calm himself down so he said the right words instead of messing things up more. “I never said that. Trust me.”

Eliott shrugged. “It seems like the kind of thing that would happen. Based off of previous gossip.”

Lucas’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I thought you didn’t care about the gossip?”

“I don’t. But I can’t avoid it.”

And Lucas immediately knew that was one of the most stupidest things he had ever said. Obviously everyone knew about it, whether they cared about it or not. It was all that people at this school talked about. They thrived off of gossip.

“I know about the other people you’ve been with. It seems like the kind of thing you’d do. Brag about it or whatever.”

And that hurt Lucas. The fact that Eliott would actually think Lucas would brag about people who he had been with, which had been no one. He wouldn’t brag about being with anyone, especially with Eliott. 

“You really think I’m that kind of person?” Lucas questioned, his eyebrows raised. He knew his hurt was shown on his face. He could tell by how Eliott looked guilty for a split second, before going back to his neutral expression he had beforehand.

“I dunno.” Eliott shrugged his shoulders. “But someone told me it came from you. And people haven’t shut up about it all day.”

“I know. I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with this. It’s shit, I know.” Lucas sighed, hoping Eliott was slowly understanding and not being angry or upset anymore.

Eliott stepped closer to him, looking Lucas straight in the eyes. And Lucas knew that that wasn’t the case.

“I genuinely like you Lucas. And I want to see if there could be something here. It seemed like you did too, up until today.”

Lucas furrowed his eyebrows again. “Eliott, I want that to. I didn’t tell anyone anything, trust me.”

Eliott shook his head slightly, looking down at the floor and backing away. “The thing is I can’t. I can’t trust people easily.” He looked back up at Lucas, his face full of sadness and hurt. “I want to. I’m sorry.”

Eliott turned to head towards the bus stop, not looking back at Lucas at all.

“Eliott... Eliott please. Let me explain.” Lucas called after, his voice slowly getting quieter and quieter the more Eliott walked away.

He didn’t have it in him to go after him and try again. Eliott clearly was hurt and needed time away from Lucas. He could understand that. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt though.

He had to, somehow, make things right again. He just needed to think how. Until then, he’ll just mope around.

——

Lucas had somehow made it home. He didn’t see Eliott when he eventually reached the bus stop. He doesn’t know how he feels about that.

He didn’t say a word when he entered the house. He didn’t know if his mum was home and didn’t really care. He just dropped his bag by the front door and headed up the stairs, into his room, closing the door behind him and flopping face first onto his bed.

How did one day mess everything up?

This morning him and Eliott were happily chatting away, texting each other, calling each other... Now they weren’t. Even though Lucas hadn’t seen him that long ago, he already missed him.

He wished he had been able to explain things, tell Eliott about his fake reputation. Tell him that he would never spread anything like that about the two of them because he was actually serious about them. He really liked Eliott. He didn’t feel this way about any of the other maybes in the past.

Unfortunately, he knew he had to give Eliott some time. He clearly was hurt by this and so was Lucas. If only they could go back in time and change things so Lucas would’ve been able to stop the rumour or change what was being spread around. Or so he could actually talk.

He can’t so instead he is going to mope. 

He was planning on staying in his room, buried under his covers, either listening to music or watching a movie (he wasn’t sure which yet). Hopefully people will just leave him to it.

Lucas sighed, leaning up on his elbows and taking his phone out of his pocket to check his notifications. Nothing from Eliott, surprise surprise. His friends in the group chat were only talking about the rumour, which he clearly wasn’t going to open and contribute to.

There was one notification he was confused by, however.

_srodulv followed you!_

Lucas clicked on the notification, sending him straight to Instagram and to a private account. There was no name, no bio, nothing that could help Lucas identify who this was. 

It could’ve just been a random person who decided to follow him, but Lucas was still intrigued by this.

Especially seeing as it said that his friend Imane was following this account. She clearly knew who this person was.

Lucas was tempted to send her a message then and there asking her who it was, but he decided not to. It would be weird. Maybe he’ll just slip it into conversation the next time he sees her. 

All Lucas knew was this was not just a random stranger. It had to be someone he knew or had seen at school. It shouldn’t intrigue him as much as it does. It could be someone he doesn’t even know.

——

Lucas hadn’t tried to contact Eliott all night. He knew it would’ve been pointless to. He also knew he would most likely see him at school today and it would be even more awkward if he attempted to. Well, that’s what he thinks anyway.

He walked through the school gates already feeling everyone’s eyes on him already. He was prepared for it, so it wasn’t a shock or a surprise to him. 

The rumours and gossip were back. Meaning his reputation was back, even though there isn’t even a reputation. If only people would believe him or listen to him when he attempted to say...

He didn’t look up at anyone. He kept his gaze set on the floor in front of him, hoping he would be able to get to his locker and go about his day without interacting with anyone but his friends.

But this is not what happens in Lucas’s life. Something always goes wrong. Like now, for example.

He was heading towards the building, when he saw a bunch of people stop in his tracks, forcing him to stop and look up at who was standing in front of him, stopping him from entering the building. 

He immediately regretted acknowledging their existence as it was Louis and his friends (minus Alex, the only good one of the group who probably didn’t want to deal with them today. Lucas wished he could be him so badly right now).

“Well, well, well,” Louis began, crossing his arms from his position in front of everyone, making it seem clear that he was the ‘superior’ one here, “if it isn’t Lucas Lallemant. The boy who sleeps around and brags about it.”

Lucas sighed, holding onto both straps of his backpack. “That isn’t me, so can you maybe move so I can get to my locker?” 

“No. No, you are definitely Lucas. And you do sleep around and brag about it.”

“Everyone knows about Eliott. Don’t even deny it.” Ryan added, standing to the side of Louis, looking like his sidekick, which he actually is. Ryan definitely tries too hard.

“Poor Eliott. Wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t turn up today based off of what people were calling him yesterday.” Louis continued, turning to glance around at his friends, a smug expression on his face, which Lucas hated.

“What were people calling him?” Lucas asked, genuinely worried. He didn’t want any of this to happen and he definitely didn’t want Eliott to get called horrific names because of some rumours.

“That’s beside the point here. You can’t keep your junk to yourself. You’d maybe wanna try that before you get an std or something.” Louis chuckled after that and all of his friends chuckled alongside him. 

Complete idiots. They would laugh at anything he said. Just as long as they stayed friends with him.

“Is there any purpose in you talking to me right now? Because I kind of need to get to my locker and go to classes and stuff. You know, the reason why we’re all here.” Lucas questioned, pointing in the direction of the door, which he couldn’t actually see because of all the people standing in front of him. 

“Ooh, calm down Lucas. We just wanted to see how you were following yesterday.” Ryan responded, holding his hands out in defeat.

“Huh, seems like he isn’t affected at all.” Louis continued, speaking only to his friends now, completely ignoring Lucas’s presence. “Seeing as he bragged about it, why would he be affected? He’s on top of the world!”

Lucas sighed, closing his eyes briefly to try and contain the rage and hurt inside of him. He really was not in the mood for this today and he really just wanted to get to his locker. Why did these idiots have to ruin his day even more by stopping in front of him?

“Okay, I’m gonna go to my locker and none of you will stop me.” Lucas said once he had calmed his rage down. “Also, I didn’t brag about anything. Nothing happened between me and Eliott. I wouldn’t brag about anything between me and him if anything did happen. Now please never talk to me about this again.”

And with that, Lucas walked around the group of guys, finally heading into the building to get his textbook out of his locker.

How he was going to get through the day, he had no idea. He just had to take it one step at a time.

——

“I ended up going to the shelter the other day and I found so many cute animals! I swear all of them loved me and didn’t want me to leave!” Basile spoke excitedly, his mouth full of a bit of pasta. “My mum wouldn’t let me get one then and there, but I’m hoping I’ll get to take one home soon.”

“A dog or a cat?” Arthur asked, taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Whichever calls me most.”

Arthur shook his head. “You’re gonna walk out with one of both.”

“Probably more likely 5 of both.” Yann added, making himself and Arthur chuckle.

“Well...” Basile spoke, trailing off, shrugging his shoulders. “If my mum let me.”

“Don’t walk out with 5 of both. That wouldn’t go well.” Arthur said, shaking his head and smiling. Basile was definitely something else.

Lucas was half paying attention to the conversation and half thinking about Eliott. He hadn’t seen him all day and was wondering if he had even turned up, or if he was just avoiding him. He really hoped it wasn’t the last one. 

Lucas was busy playing with the pasta in front of him when he felt a nudge on his shin under the table. He looked up to see Yann looking at him, a worried expression on his face.

“You okay, bro?” He asked. Arthur and Basile were still fully invested in their conversation about animals and didn’t hear the interaction.

Lucas shrugged. “I guess.”

“So no then.” Yann finished, taking a bite of his own pasta.

“It’s just a shitty situation. That’s all. It’ll be fine soon. Once I’m over everything.”

Yann shrugged one of his shoulders. “You should at least be able to explain though.”

Lucas sighed, really not wanting to have to talk about this and hoping Yann could see this and wouldn’t continue any longer. “It’s better to just leave it. See what happens.”

“Ooh! Guys!” Basile practically shouted, making everyone from the nearby tables turn and look around at who was being so loud. The canteen was a better and quieter place than outside for gossip, even though Lucas still knew people were talking about it. He didn’t focus on it too much though. “Alex invited us to a party at his this weekend. We going?”

“Oh hell yeah! The only one of them lot that are actually nice.” Arthur responded, taking a sip of his juice.

“I’m in.” Yann simply responded.

“Lucas?” Basile asked, looking at Lucas. 

Lucas wanted more than anything to not go. Eliott could be there and they might not have even spoken yet. But he knew his friends and he knew they would end up persuading him to go anyway, so that’s why he responded with a simple shrug and a “Yeah, sure”.

“Awesome! It’s gonna be so much fun!” Basile shouted yet again, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

“Try not to hook up with anyone there.” Lucas heard someone say from right behind him. He immediately knew who the voice was without having to turn around. Clearly they were desperate.

“Ryan,” Lucas began, turning in his seat to look at him. “How about you fuck off and finally leave me alone for once.”

“How about you not talk to me that way for once.” Ryan responded, getting closer to Lucas and crossing his arms over his chest. “Don’t forget we used to have something.”

“And I’ve told you before. You’re a dick. It’ll never happen.”

“And it will with this Eliott guy? The loser? The person who has no friends and actually creeps me and so many other people out?” He asked, his eyebrows raised like he couldn’t believe it.

“Eliott isn’t a loser.” Basile butted in, trying to help Lucas out. He didn’t need to, but Lucas knew he would stick up for any of them, no matter what. “I think he’s quite cool.”

“Well then, you’re a loser too.”

And, boy, did that piss Lucas right off. No one speaks about his friends like that _ever_. He stood up, moving so he was standing straight in front of Ryan, looking up at him, trying to seem threatening, despite how small he may look next to him.

“You’re the loser here. You can’t face rejection. Get over yourself.” Lucas spat at him, making Ryan immediately angry. Lucas could tell everyone was watching the two of them based off of the fact that the whole canteen was now silent, attempting to listen to every word that was being said.

“You know what? You’re even worse. You sleep around with all of these people. I bet you don’t care about any of them. Just like Eliott.” Ryan responded, slowly leaning down so he was looking straight into Lucas’s eyes and all he could see was anger. “Poor, poor loser Eliott, who couldn’t even face turning up today because of you.”

“Fuck you, Ryan.” Lucas responded coldly and harshly. He knew Eliott was hurt by Lucas, but he shouldn’t be showing it off at every opportunity he had. It made Lucas more and more upset knowing it, every time he was reminded.

Why could he not get a break?

“Why? Because you’re a bad person? You brag about sleeping with him to people and feel butt hurt when he doesn’t turn up? It’s called karma, Lucas. Something you deserve.”

Lucas took in a deep breath, attempting to calm down, to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill. He couldn’t face this anymore. He needed to set the record straight. He couldn’t do it if he was angry and wasn’t thinking straight.

“I didn’t fucking sleep with Eliott. And I for sure wouldn’t brag about it, you idiot.”

“Say what you want, but we all heard it. We all know what happened.” Ryan’s mouth very quickly turned into a disgusting smug smirk that Lucas wanted to slap straight off. But he wasn’t violent. 

“I am saying what happened. All we did was kiss. Just like every single time I’ve supposedly “hooked up” with someone.” Lucas rolled his eyes, sighing in relief to finally be getting this out. “Ask any of them and they’ll say the same thing. Just because you can’t handle rejection, doesn’t mean you can do this.”

Lucas didn’t wait to hear Ryan’s response. He grabbed his bag and headed straight for the exit, breathing in and out, calming himself down. He headed into the first toilets he saw and locked himself in the first cubicle. 

He was relieved he finally got it out there, whether they believed him or not. But it still couldn’t help but make him feel like a shitty person. He didn’t do anything wrong. He knows he shouldn’t be feeling like this.

Oh, how he wished he could talk to Eliott right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be happier, I swear!


	8. Chapter eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s officially chapter eight now, wow. It’s a tad bit longer than the others, but I think it deserves it. (You’ll definitely be happy by the end, trust me.)

It was Wednesday and Lucas was sat at the back of biology, next to Imane, not concentrating at all. He usually pays attention a bit during these lessons, but today he couldn’t focus at all.

His mind was being occupied. He was obviously thinking about Eliott, but also thinking about what happened yesterday in the canteen. He didn’t expect that to happen at all, but it did. It felt somewhat like a dream that it had actually happened.

Lucas was happy and proud that he was able to get it out there. Even though people didn’t know whether to believe him or not, he was just happy that it was out there. The truth was finally out and it was like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. He knew people were still talking, but it didn’t feel as bad now.

Another thing that was occupying Lucas’s brain was about Instagram, specifically that one private account that followed him on Monday. He still doesn’t know who it is, but they liked his recent photos yesterday and had liked a few more this morning. Whoever it was, they seemed to want his attention.

Lucas sneakily retrieved his phone from his jacket pocket and opened it to Instagram. As he was sat at the back and the teacher was happily talking away, no one would notice but him and Imane. And he knew Imane wouldn’t rat him out.

He opened the srodulv account and stared at it again. 

Why were they liking his posts, seeming to want his attention, when they were on private? Lucas didn’t know who they were at all. It seemed so confusing. 

And then it clicked in Lucas’s brain that Imane was following him. And he was currently sat next to Imane. All he had to do was ask her.

But should he? It could be someone he didn’t even know. Heck, Lucas might be overthinking things and the person running this account might not even want his attention. This might just all be inside Lucas’s head.

And yet, Lucas nudged his phone closer to Imane, slightly hitting her elbow to get her attention. She looked over at him, eyebrows furrowed, probably wondering why Lucas was interrupting when the teacher was talking. She concentrated in every lesson and let Lucas know that from the start. He always let her listen. Lord knows what would happen if he didn’t.

Lucas pointed at the screen to the account still open. He watched as Imane looked down at the screen, her eyebrows still furrowed in confusion, and looked back up at him with a certain expression that asked, “Why are you showing me this now?”

Lucas moved his phone so he could quickly open up the notes app and quickly typed out: _Do you know who this is? They followed me the other day and keep liking my posts_

He pushed the phone back over to Imane, waiting as she read what Lucas typed, before quickly typing something back and pushing the phone back to Lucas.

_You should know seeing as you’ve become close to them_

What the heck does that mean? That could be any of his friends, but it isn’t. Lucas knows his friends Instagram accounts. He follows them all. They would let Lucas know if they had a new account. Lucas wrote back a few question marks, pushing the phone back over to Imane, watching her again as she looked at the phone, rolled her eyes and typed again.

_Are you actually this dumb? Who do you think would have an account like this? Out of all the people you know?_

Lucas sighed quietly, pushing the phone back over to Imane, not even bothering to type anything in response. He genuinely did not know whose this account was. She was just making things more difficult and confusing.

When Imane saw that he hadn’t typed anything in response, she looked up at him with an annoyed expression on her face, before picking the phone up with both hands, quickly typing something, and shoving the phone in Lucas’s hand.

_It’s Eliott, you idiot_

Lucas’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. 

Eliott? Why would he follow him after what happened? Why would he be liking his posts? He was hurt by him and didn’t want to speak to him. Why would he reach out this way? In any way, in fact? 

Maybe this was Eliott’s way of saying he’s ready to talk again? Ready to see him again? Or maybe it isn’t as he hasn’t made it obvious that it was him? 

Either way, Lucas didn’t hesitate to press the follow button, hoping that Eliott would accept his request. He really hoped he did. He also really hoped it was actually Eliott. He missed him.

——

Lucas kept checking the account every chance he had. He needed to know whether it was Eliott and whether he wanted to talk yet.

But it had been over a day now and he still had nothing. The request hadn’t been accepted or declined. He was just ignoring it.

During all of this, Eliott still hadn’t been at school. Either that or he was fully avoiding Lucas. The latter didn’t make any sense to Lucas though, so he was assuming the first. It did hurt to know that he wasn’t turning up, but he understood.

Meanwhile, everyone was still talking about what happened in the canteen on Tuesday. People still couldn’t figure out whether to believe what Lucas had said. He was telling the truth and it’s annoying that none of the guys he had been rumoured to have slept with have come out and said anything. Guess they feel the same as Ryan did a few weeks ago.

Lucas only really cared about Eliott though. Everything else he didn’t care about. People could continue to talk about the rumours and believe them, or they could choose to believe they are fake, either way Lucas was just happy he said it out loud in front of other people.

Which is why he is currently lay on his bed, refreshing the srodulv Instagram account every few seconds or so to see if his follow request has been accepted. He’s been doing this since he got home 20 minutes ago. And he would stay here all night doing this if he could. 

Only his mum had other plans.

“Lucas!” He heard his mum shout up the stairs to him. “We’re going out for dinner! Come get ready!”

“Okay!” Lucas shouted back, sighing as he refreshed the screen one more time, before getting up and grabbing his jacket and heading downstairs to put some shoes on.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw his mum walk out into the hallway, fully ready. She simply smiled at him and waited as he grabbed his shoes and started putting them on.

“How come we’re going out tonight? Is there something to celebrate that I missed?” Lucas asked, finishing putting one of his shoes on and starting on the other.

“Nope.” His mum simply responded. Lucas looked up at her, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

He stood up straight, staring straight at her, still so confused. “Why are we going out then?”

His mum sighed, stepping closer to him and cupping his cheek with one of her hands, brushing her thumb slightly over his cheek. She used to do this a lot when Lucas was a child. It always comforted him and it still had the same effect today as it did then.

“Because I can tell there’s something up and I wanted to try and distract you from it all. Just spend some time together as we used to.” Her hand moved to grab a hold of Lucas’s, squeezing slightly before letting go and walking towards the front door.

The two of them stepped outside and Lucas waited for his mum to close and lock the door behind them, before throwing his arms around her in a quick hug.

“Thank you.” He whispered, before moving back and breaking the hug.

His mum simply smiled back. “It’s okay. It’s what mum’s are for.”

——

Lucas thought he saw him.

He was sat outside waiting for the bell to ring and for his friends to come join him. His french teacher always let them out 5 minutes early and no one in that class were going to complain about it. He always sat outside, waiting in the same spot for his friends every week.

This time, however, he thought he saw the iconic brown jacket go from one side of the building to other through the courtyard. 

His heart started beating faster and he couldn’t help the tiniest bit of happiness that grew inside of him very quickly at the thought of finally, maybe, seeing him again...

But when he looked back at the person who he thought was Eliott, his heart dropped. 

It wasn’t him.

He missed Eliott so much that anyone or anything that reminded him of him made him almost burst with excitement. He hadn’t seen him since Monday and all he wanted was a tiny glimpse of him. He just wanted to know he was okay.

——

He still hadn’t heard anything from Eliott, or about Eliott, by the time Alex’s party happened on Saturday. He had checked the Instagram account to see if his request had been accepted, but there was still nothing. For tonight, and only tonight, Lucas had decided he was going to forget about it.

He wanted to try and have fun. 

Yes, he wasn’t the biggest fans of parties and, yes, it would be so much more fun with Eliott here with him, but he was hoping he could at least try.

The guys had had pre’s at Basile’s again, with Basile already slightly tipsy, as usual. He had made Lucas promise to at least dance one song with him and Lucas had agreed, seeing as he was going to attempt to enjoy it this time. Yann and Arthur seemed surprised when he had agreed, but Lucas had just simply shrugged his shoulders and had taken another sip of his beer.

He was allowed to switch things up for once, right?

The party was already in full swing once they had arrived and, as per usual, all four of them headed to the kitchen to get another drink. Basile dragged Lucas by the arm, immediately announcing he was making them dance together straight away, otherwise Lucas would actually back out.

The two of them grabbed a beer and headed into the living room, into the huge crowd of people, all dancing and shimmying and having fun. This seemed like hell to Lucas, but he did promise Basile and he was going to try and enjoy it.

Basile dragged him partially into the crowd, immediately beginning to shimmy, making Lucas laugh immediately, before shimmying with him. 

He didn’t care for one night. It’s what he wanted. He didn’t want to think about any rumour or any guy. He just wanted to have fun with his friends, which is what he was doing.

After a while the rest of the guys, and the girls, all joined the two of them, forming a huge group of people just on the outside of the crowd. 

Lucas had to admit it was a lot of fun.

After about half an hour to an hour of this, Lucas decided to leave the group and finally go grab another beer, seeing as he had finished his ages ago. He was having too much fun to go get one and, so, kept putting it off. But he was starting to get thirsty again so he decided now was the perfect time.

Yann was the one who noticed Lucas begin to head towards the kitchen, quickly shooting him a glance to make sure he was okay. Lucas nodded and pointed to the empty bottle in his hand, signalling he was getting another drink. Yann gave him a thumbs up and continued back to his dancing with Emma and Alexia.

Lucas entered the kitchen, finally feeling like he’s able to breathe again. As much as it was fun, and he did hate to admit that, it was extremely hot and sweaty in the living room, so to walk into the kitchen and feel nice cool air... it was like heaven.

Lucas made his way over to the fridge, placing his empty bottle down by the sink on his way there, grabbing another one and immediately opening it and taking a big sip of it. It was nice and cold, exactly what Lucas needed at this precise moment.

He closed the fridge, turning to head back into the living room to rejoin his friends, when he froze.

Standing opposite the counter, staring straight at him, was the one and only Eliott Demaury. 

Lucas hadn’t seen him since Monday, so seeing him immediately took his breath away. He still looked absolutely incredible, as per. He had a green high neck jumper on, matched with a pair of black jeans. His hair was its usual mess that suited him so well. He looked good.

The only thing that was different was his eyes. They were the same colour they had always been, but it looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Lucas wanted to ask what had happened, he wanted to walk over to him and rub his thumb over the dark circles under his eyes, but he knew he couldn’t.

He didn’t even know what to say.

Thankfully, Eliott was the one to say something first. 

“Hey.” He spoke, his voice quiet but still loud enough to be heard over the music blaring from the living room. A small, tired, yet soft smile appeared on his face. 

Lucas had to resist the urge to smile back. He wanted to, but he didn’t know how things were between them at the moment. He didn’t want to make things worse or awkward.

“Hey.” Lucas responded, quickly looking down at his shoes shyly, before looking back at Eliott. 

Eliott placed his hands in his jeans pockets, looking like he wanted to say something. But he didn’t. At least, not yet.

The two of them stayed looking at each other, the air in the room filled with a huge amount of uncertainness. Neither one of them knew what the other was thinking or how they felt. Neither of them wanting to overstep anything.

“I think we should talk.” Eliott eventually got out, moving one of his hands to point his thumb behind him. “Maybe somewhere quieter? More private?”

Lucas nodded slowly, waiting for Eliott to make the first move. 

Eliott simply nodded in response, turning and beginning to walk out. Lucas waited a few seconds, taking a deep breath in, before following him.

——

They made their way into one of the bedrooms which was empty, moving so they were sat down on the edge of the bed, both facing each other. 

Lucas could tell that Eliott was slightly nervous about the conversation they were going to have. He wished he could reach out and grab his hand, let him know there is nothing to worry about.

Eliott looked down at his hands that were in his lap whilst speaking. “You, uh... you said you wanted to explain things the other day?” Eliott began, looking up shyly at Lucas. He was biting his lip, which Lucas assumed he was doing because he was nervous. “I think I’m ready to hear it.”

Lucas nodded slowly in response, trying to think about where he could begin in telling him about everything. He could just simply come out with it like he did the other day, but that could be too much. 

Why was this so complicated? He did it so easily the other day.

“I’m also sorry I didn’t let you explain. I wasn’t thinking and people wouldn’t stop talking about it. I know you’re not the kind of person to brag about things. It was stupid of me to even think it.”

Lucas shook his head immediately, not wanting Eliott to feel bad at all for having doubts, to not feel bad about having trust issues. He’s allowed to feel that way.

“You had every right to feel that way.” Lucas began, taking a deep breath in before continuing. “People have spread things in the past that were similar so I’m not surprised you believed it. Heck, I would’ve if I was in your position.”

Eliott shook his head slightly, looking back down at his hands, which were playing with a stray strand on his jeans that was loose. “I should’ve known though. I know you wouldn’t have.”

Lucas moved slightly forward, slowly reaching out to grab Eliott’s hands, to try and stop his fiddling and to calm his nerves. Eliott immediately looked up at Lucas at the contact.

“I’m not hurt by it Eliott. You don’t have to feel bad. I understand.” Lucas saw Eliott let out a breath, clearly one that was holding a lot of guilt and hurt from that Monday after their conversation. Lucas sighed. “Just so you know none of it is true.”

Eliott’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?” He asked, his voice a lot quieter than beforehand. If Lucas wasn’t sat close to him, he wouldn’t have heard anything.

“I mean...” Lucas swallowed, taking a deep breath in and out, before beginning to explain. “Every piece of gossip that has gone around about me isn’t true. I haven’t slept with any of those guys. I haven’t had sex. Yeah, I made out with them, but nothing else happened.” Lucas looked down at their hands, moving his other one so it was on top of Eliott’s, holding on tight. “They all stuck with the rumours because it made them seem cool like, loads of people were congratulating them, whilst I was made to feel ashamed, even though nothing happened.”

“That’s shitty of them.” 

Lucas looked back up at Eliott, nodding his head. “It is. And I’ve had to go around for so long with people thinking that I slept around when I never did. Not once.” Lucas paused, thinking about what to say next.

He needed to let Eliott know that he meant a lot to him, but he didn’t know how to come about saying it. 

Unless...

“None of them meant anything to me. And knowing they were letting the rumours spread made me realise they just wanted to use me. But that wasn’t the case for us.”

Lucas smiled a very small smile at Eliott and he swore he could see the very hint of one on Eliott’s face as well. Things were looking up, then.

“You mean so damn much to me. Hearing those rumours actually broke my heart because you don’t deserve any of this. You’re special and different...” Lucas shrugged his shoulders. “I dunno. I guess I knew you weren’t gonna be like anyone else when I first met you.”

“When you climbed out of the window to escape Ryan? And fell flat on your ass?” Eliott smiled, his usual big smile, the one that Lucas loved to see.

Lucas chuckled, nodding. “Yes. I knew then.”

Eliott moved one of his hands so it was clutching onto one of Lucas’s and squeezed it. “I did too. Seeing you fall was the highlight of that week for me.”

Lucas moved his hand that Eliott wasn’t clutching and pushed him slightly, laughing whilst doing so. “You’re never gonna forget that, are you?”

Eliott shook his head, laughing as well. “Nope.”

The two of them continued laughing for a few moments, feeling the tension that was there beforehand fade quickly. Things were getting back to how they were a week ago. Things began to feel right again.

Their laughter eventually trailed off, with the two of them sat there, staring at each other, just enjoying each other’s company.

Lucas eventually broke the silence that had gathered over them. “So... what now? Do we go back to where we were before or...?” Lucas trailed off, hoping Eliott wanted the same thing as Lucas did.

“I don’t know.” Eliott shrugged one of his shoulders. “All I know is I wanna be with you.”

Lucas smiled. “I want that too.”

Eliott smiled in response. 

“So, are we officially together now then? Like as boyfriends?” Lucas questioned, the smile not budging from his face, but one of his eyebrows furrowed.

Eliott nodded. “I guess we are.”

The two of them chuckled, both because they were nervous and excited about what just happened and what is still to come, but also because they were both happy in this exact moment.

Eliott moved one hand to cup Lucas’s cheek and leaned in, his smile (and Lucas’s smile) not budging until the moment their lips met. This time the kiss was longer. Longer than any of the others they had had before. It felt the exact same as always and it made Lucas feel weak.

He was kissing Eliott.

Eliott, his boyfriend.

Officially.

How did this come to be?

Once they eventually parted, with Eliott leaning back in for another quick kiss, they stayed sat where they were, smiling at each other, happy and content for the first time in 6 days.

——

Later on, Lucas walked back over to his friends, only this time, he had Eliott by his side, holding onto his hand.

Basile noticed them immediately, shouting and jumping in excitement, making Yann and Arthur turn around and notice.

All three of them looked between Lucas and Eliott and their joined hands, each of them looking like they were going to burst from excitement. Lucas couldn’t hold back his happiness anymore.

“Are you...?” Arthur asked, trailing off, pointing one finger between the two of them.

Lucas and Eliott looked at each other, the biggest, cheesiest smiles on their faces, before looking back at the guys, nodding their heads. Immediately, all three of them started jumping up and down in excitement, giving both Eliott and Lucas the biggest hugs.

Truly, one of the best nights ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now there is only one chapter left to come. How has it almost over already?? 
> 
> Hopefully the next and finally chapter will be out this weekend. Not too long to wait then. ;)


	9. Chapter nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this ended up being the longest chapter of the whole fic (not masssively longer, but still longer). I really enjoyed writing this as it seemed really easy to write. I don’t know. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the last part to this story!!

Lucas woke up the next day in the best mood ever. 

Last night had actually happened. He had a boyfriend. He had a boyfriend who was Eliott Demaury. How did that happen?

He lay there, in his bed, smiling like an absolute idiot, covering his face partially from how happy and how giddy he felt, for a few moments. He just wanted to replay last night over and over again in his mind. He never wanted to forget it.

Lucas was eventually brought out of his thoughts by his phone buzzing on his cabinet next to his bed. He peeled the cover off of him enough to grab it, turning the screen on to find many new notifications. The newest one, the one that had made him grab his phone in the first place, was from his dad.

_Lucas, do you think we could meet up and talk sometime this week? Last time wasn’t great and I’m sorry. I think it’d be best if we talk about this in person. Let me know when :)_

Lucas groaned. He didn’t want to see his dad, especially seeing as this is something he always does after they have had an argument. He always wants to apologise, guilting Lucas into forgiving him over and over again. It was a constant cycle that couldn’t be broken, even before he left and didn’t speak to Lucas for months. It was always the same.

But this time, Lucas thought it’d be best to meet up with him. Maybe, if he was brave enough, he’d be able to actually voice all of this and let him know how he felt once and for all. Only if he could though.

He quickly sent a text back saying that he was free any day after school, before looking over his other notifications.

One of them made him sit up as soon as he had read it.

_srodulv accepted your follow request!_

He had accepted it.

Lucas doesn’t know why he’s shocked that he’s accepted it. They are now officially boyfriends. But it’s the fact that he has wanted to see Eliott’s Instagram account for a while now. Just seeing it being on private made him even more curious.

He clicked on the notification, opening the app and heading straight to Eliott’s account. What Lucas saw was exactly how Eliott is as a person.

His account was full of drawings (the arty person he is) and a load of aesthetic photos. His account was way better than Lucas’s which were full of silly photos of him and his friends and food.

Lucas sat and scrolled through the account, looking at every single photo carefully. The one thing he noticed was how his account slowly changed after he had met him. 

Before they had met, his account was black and white, with hints of grey every now and then. He hadn’t really featured much colour in his photos. But once he had met Lucas, things had changed.

His aesthetic photos became more and more colourful as time went on and his drawings became more detailed and regular, with hints of colour here and there. But that wasn’t the only thing.

Lucas realised the drawings were about him. 

There was one of a phone, posted the day after Lucas had climbed out the window and met Eliott, who had stopped Lucas before he had left to give him his phone, which he had dropped.

There was one of a bus stop, _the_ bus stop that the two of them catch the bus from. The one where they’ve met and spoken a few times.

There was one of two blurry figures sitting on, what appears to be, a balcony. Lucas immediately knew that that was the two of them at Emma’s party, where Lucas started to feel something change between the two of them.

There was one of a sundae, the day that Lucas had had a shitty day and Eliott immediately wanted to cheer him up. That was the night Lucas realised he liked Eliott.

And finally, there was a photo of two mouths, inches apart from each other. Lucas didn’t know if this was supposed to be their first kiss or just one of their kisses in general, but he knew it was about that weekend. That drawing was posted last Monday, after Lucas had tried to explain things to Eliott. 

They were all of the drawings Lucas could put a memory to. But there were others over the past week: some more dark and going back to being black and white; others were more colourful and were of features of someone. These must have been the reason why Eliott didn’t accept his request. He didn’t want him to see these drawings without the two of them talking things out.

Seeing them now, however, after everything had worked out perfectly, Lucas felt like he was floating. Every single one of his drawings were incredible. He loved every single one. It made him feel so happy and content to know there was someone out there who cared this much about him.

Lucas quickly went through Eliott’s account, liking all of his photos from the first one of the phone all the way up until the most recent. He had to let Eliott know he loved them somehow.

He would also, most likely, tell Eliott it in person as well.

——

Lucas walked through the school gates on Monday morning and immediately spotted who he was looking for. (His boyfriend, of course.) 

Eliott was sat on the small wall that was connected to the gates, making some sort of pathway into the school courtyard. He was scrolling through his phone, not paying attention to anyone or anything around him. It was the perfect opportunity to sneak up on him.

“Hi.” Lucas spoke, standing in front of where Eliott was sat, his hands on either side of him on the wall, looking directly up at him. Lucas swore he looked like a god from every angle, even from this angle, which to most people would be unflattering. But it isn’t for Eliott.

Eliott looked up, a smile immediately growing on his face. “Hey.” 

One of his hands moved to cup Lucas’s face and he leaned down, whilst Lucas leaned up on his tiptoes, so their lips could meet in a kiss. Lucas only realised once they had parted that that was their first kiss in public. They didn’t even kiss when they were with the guys at the party.

“How are you?” Lucas asked, looking up at Eliott with a soft smile on his face.

Eliott nodded, his hand rested in the crook between Lucas’s neck and shoulder, his thumb brushing his jaw gently. “I’m good. You?”

“I’m good too.” 

The two of them smiled at each other, eventually chuckling a little because they were both just so damn happy. Neither of them could believe this had actually happened. 

“I really like your drawings, by the way.” Lucas eventually spoke, breaking the short silence that had gathered over them. His voice wasn’t too loud, considering they were very close and wanted this conversation to only be the two of them.

Eliott chuckled. “Yeah, I saw. Got all the notifications.” He moved his hand to brush a strand of hair that had fallen on Lucas’s head. “You really liked them? Like thought they were really good?”

Lucas nodded. “I loved them. You’re really talented.”

Eliott shook his head slightly. “I’m not, but thank you.”

“You are. And I will fight you over this and I will win said fight because you, Eliott Demaury, are talented.” Lucas leaned up on his tiptoes again, asking Eliott for another kiss. “And I will let everyone know that as well.”

Eliott smiled a shy smile, his cheeks blushing a tiny bit, before leaning back down and quickly kissing Lucas again.

“Oh, well, well...” A deep voice to their right spoke, breaking the two of them out of their trance and looking over to see who it was. Of course it was going to be Louis, of all people. “Would you look here. You two dealt with your shit. Surprised you didn’t brag about it, Lucas.”

“I haven’t yet. But I will from now on.” Lucas responded, moving so he was looking at Eliott, before looking back at Louis, raising a hand to Eliott. “I mean, have you seen him? He’s incredible.”

“If you say so.” Louis walked a few steps closer to the two of them, looking straight at Eliott. “Not gonna lie, didn’t think you’d take him back after what happened last week.”

“What’d you mean?” Eliott asked, his voice quiet like he really didn’t want to be talking to Louis or even having this conversation at all.

“I mean, him bragging about you two sleeping together. Everyone was talking shit about you and it was his fault. Thought you’d leave him alone after it all.”

Eliott quickly turned his head to look at Lucas, before looking back at Louis. He hopped off of the wall, grabbing a hold of Lucas’s hand. “Lucas didn’t do anything. He had nothing to brag about then.”

“Wait, what?” Louis began, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “You’re telling me that Lucas was telling the truth in the canteen last week?” 

Eliott nodded, before turning around, pulling Lucas along with him, knowing that the two of them did not want to continue that conversation any longer.

Lucas chuckled, looking up at Eliott, whilst the two of them walked. “That was one of the best things I think I’ve ever seen. Fuck, you’re incredible.”

Eliott wrapped his arm around Lucas, not letting go of his hand whilst doing so, pulling him close into his side. “You are too.” He responded, looking down at Lucas with a smile on his face.

——

Lucas was pushed up against the plastic on the side of the bus stop, with Eliott standing directly in front of him, kissing him. 

It was now Tuesday after school and Lucas was going to be meeting with his dad to talk about what happened the last time they saw each other. Before going to meet him however, Lucas wanted to wait with Eliott for his bus, seeing as he had the time.

Eliott pulled back, staying close enough so their breaths were mingling in the small space between them. Neither of them said anything; they were just enjoying being together and looking at each other.

A small smirk appeared on Eliott’s face, making Lucas smile in confusion. “What?” He asked, moving his hands so they were holding onto the strings of Eliott’s hoodie.

“Nothing.” Eliott responded, before quickly leaning back down to kiss Lucas again.

Lucas would never get over this. The fact the he gets to kiss Eliott, be with Eliott, be Eliott’s boyfriend... it feels like a dream. He will forever be on a high.

“I wish I wasn’t meeting my dad so we could hang out.” Lucas pouted, speaking as soon as they had separated.

“Me too.” Eliott responded, rubbing his thumb gently over Lucas’s cheek. “But you need to see him. Find out what’s gonna happen.” Lucas had briefly informed Eliott about his relationship with his dad earlier and had been very supportive in his decision to talk to his dad, especially as he knew it was a big deal for him.

“I know.” Lucas lightly poked Eliott in the chest, still holding onto the strings of his hoodie. “And hopefully it’ll go okay.”

“He’d be stupid to not want you in his life.” Eliott kissed Lucas on the cheek. “You’re great.”

Lucas smiled in response, moving his arms to wrap around Eliott’s shoulders. “You are too.” And then he pulled Eliott in for another kiss.

The kiss didn’t last too long, however, as the sound of a bus approaching made them separate to see if it was Eliott’s bus. Turns out it was.

“Looks like you gotta go.” Lucas said, resting back on his feet from where he was previously on his tiptoes.

Eliott hummed. “You’ll ring me if you need me, yeah? If anything goes wrong whilst meeting your dad.”

Lucas nodded.

Eliott smiled, quickly kissing Lucas on the cheek, before heading over to the bus now parked, waited by the bus stop. Lucas stood and watched Eliott get on the bus, sit down and then watched as the bus drove down the street and out of sight.

Lucas smiled the whole time, trying to ignore the feeling in his stomach as to what could happen later.

——

Lucas was early to the diner that he and his dad were meeting at. He didn’t expect anything else, considering his dad was always late to things, so he had already ordered himself a coke and was sat scrolling through Instagram. More specifically, Eliott’s Instagram account. He loved it.

A few minutes later, someone moved the chair opposite him, bringing Lucas back to reality, realising his dad had just arrived.

“Hi Lucas.” His dad spoke, smiling.

Lucas smiled a small smile back. “Hi.”

“You okay?” He asked, starting off with the formalities and the simplicities, knowing that things were going to become a lot during this meeting.

Lucas nodded. “You?”

His dad nodded in response.

Before the two of them could speak any more, the waitress was back at their table taking their order. Lucas already knew what he wanted as he had been here a while, whereas his dad had to quickly glance over the menu and quickly choose something.

Once the waitress had left, they both knew they couldn’t avoid things.

“So,” His dad began, taking in a deep breath. “Where do we start?”

Lucas shrugged. “Maybe as to where we left off last time... But without the shouting maybe?”

His dad nodded. “That’s a good start.” The waitress brought over his dad’s lemonade, with him quickly taking a sip before speaking again. “You said you didn’t care about my new life as I didn’t care about you and I argued that I did...” His dad trailed off, moving his hands so they were clasped on the table between them. “Why did you think I didn’t care about you?”

“Because you left and didn’t message me or contact me asking how I was.” Lucas sighed. “And you only did to tell me about your life.”

“Lucas... it wasn’t like that.”

Lucas winced. “It does seem like it to me though.” He shrugged.

“I had to adjust. Just like I’m pretty sure you and your mum had to. I wanted to contact you, but I needed to figure stuff out and I couldn’t do that with you in my life.”

“So... I was a distraction? Or a hurdle? A burden?” Lucas raised an eyebrow, twisting his glass of coke on the table in front of him.

“No! No. Not at all.” His dad looked outside the window, clearly trying to think of how to word things better, to try and make Lucas understand. But he didn’t think he would ever understand. Not even if he explained it as clear as day. “I just... needed some time to figure out who I was by myself. And luckily I found someone who helped me find that.”

Lucas nodded. He didn’t understand, as he already knew he wouldn’t, but he was trying to. He knew that being a father and a husband was eventually becoming too much for him, especially with all the extra added shit on top of everything. But he left when Lucas needed him the most and that’s something he will never forget or understand.

“Lucas...” His dad began, trailing off. He took a moment, before he sighed and continued. “I know I wasn’t the best father to you. I know I should’ve been there. I know I should’ve contacted you, even if it was just to say hi. But I’ve been trying to make it up to you ever since.” His dad shrugged. “It just seems like you won’t let me try.”

And, boy, did that hit him like a brick wall.

Lucas thought his dad had been trying, but hadn’t been trying enough. He thought that he, himself, was always the person to try and talk, meet up. But Lucas realised, as he dad said those words, that he was trying. 

He was always the one to text him, especially more recently as Lucas was starting to give up on him. Lucas never let him try and make it up to him. He always thought he was moving on, when in reality he wasn’t. 

That’s why he turned up to Lucas’s house that one night. That’s why they argued. That’s why his dad asked to meet him. He wanted to try and be a father again, but Lucas wasn’t letting him. He was the one holding himself back because he was scared. Scared that he could leave again but also scared of his dad’s new life.

“I don’t know what else I can do, Lucas. I’m truly sorry for leaving you and your mother by yourself.”

Lucas nodded. “I know.” Lucas looked down at his hand which was still turning his glass around and around and around. “Maybe we need to start slow. Go back to basics and see how things go, before I meet your new partner and stuff.”

Lucas looked up at his dad and saw that his face was slightly in shock. Lucas wasn’t surprised. He understands now that he was the one holding himself back in this situation.

His dad eventually nodded. “Ok. I think that sounds alright.”

Lucas nodded in agreement. “But if it doesn’t go well, I will go straight back to how it was. With us two fighting and stuff.”

His dad scoffed. “Of course. I would expect nothing else from you.”

“Bit rude, but understandable.” Lucas smiled, taking a small sip of his drink.

“So...” His dad trailed off, clearing his throat before continuing. “Does going back to basics mean I can ask you about school and your life and stuff?” Lucas nodded. “Ok, so can I ask who that guy was a few weeks ago?”

Lucas smiled.

——

Lucas was in the middle of opening his locker when he felt someone’s arm brush his back and then felt them kiss his cheek. He turned to see who it was, already knowing who it was, and smiled, whilst grabbing his book out of his locker.

“Hey.” Eliott said, a smile already on his face. “How’d you feel after yesterday with your dad?” Lucas had rang Eliott after him and his dad had met, giving him a quick rundown of what had happened. Eliott was happy that his dad was willing to try at a proper relationship, as well as Lucas trying as well.

Lucas nodded. “Good.” He responded, closing his locker and moving so he was leaning against them, opposite Eliott who was doing the same. “I told him about you.”

Eliott cocked his head to the one side, the smile still on his face. “You did?”

Lucas nodded again. “He asked who you were. I wasn’t gonna lie.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know if he is okay with me being gay, but he listened and asked questions and stuff.” 

Thing is, when Lucas had come out publicly, his dad was busy with his life and didn’t react or say anything when Lucas had came out. He basically had acted like Lucas hadn’t said anything. He was always confused as to whether it bothered him, especially when he left. But then when he contacted him again, he became more confused than ever.

“It sounds like he may be okay with it. I’m just happy you two are trying.”

Lucas moved a step closer to Eliott, having to lean his head back a bit to look at him. “It might not go well, though.”

Eliott screwed his face up a tiny bit, which was one of the cutest things Lucas had ever seen. He was damn lucky.

“Don’t be negative. It will.” Eliott moved closer to Lucas, grabbing one of his hands. “And if it doesn’t, it’ll be okay. You have your mum, me, your friends... you’ll be more than okay.”

Lucas smiled, leaning up to quickly kiss Eliott, before Basile came barging up to them, interrupting.

“Hey guys!” He spoke, his voice the normal happy, excited way it always is. “You good?”

“Yeah.” Lucas responded, whilst Eliott just simply nodded his head.

“Cool! I just heard that there was gonna be a small gathering/party thing happening at the park on Friday. You two in?” Basile asked, pointing his fingers at the two of them.

Lucas looked at Eliott, who was already looking at him, the two of them having a quick conversation with their eyes to see if the other wanted to go. It seemed like the answer was a yes. It was definitely more fun going to parties together.

Lucas turned back to Basile, shrugging his shoulders. “Yeah, sure. Sounds fun.”

“Great!” He shouted in response, throwing his arms in the air. “You’ll save a dance for me again, yeah?” He pointed at Lucas, who rolled his eyes, but nodded in response anyway. “Knew it. I’ll see you two around. Byeee!” And with that, Basile walked away, holding his hands up every now and then to give people high fives.

“I can’t wait to see you two dancing together.” Eliott spoke, making Lucas turn his head back around to him from where he was watching Basile try to get a high five off of a first year. “I saw it last time. Some great shimmying there.” Eliott winked, pushing off of the lockers and moving away slightly.

“Oh, shut up.” Lucas responded, moving over to Eliott and hitting him lightly, before grabbing a hold of his hand. “You’re just jealous.”

——

Lucas’s mum was in the kitchen cooking some pasta when he got home on Thursday. It was a rare thing that she was home when he had finished school. She usually got home a few hours later. Weird.

Lucas walked into the kitchen and sat down at the counter, watching his mum as she poured the pasta out into a colander and back into the saucepan, so she could add some sauce. It definitely wasn't something for dinner as there was only one portion and it was still too early. It didn’t make sense.

“How come you’re eating now?” Lucas asked her, making her look up from the saucepan where she was mixing in the sauce.

“I’m going to group therapy in an hour.” She responded, going to grab a bowl so she could serve the pasta. “Haven’t been in a while and thought it might be good to go back.”

Lucas furrowed his eyebrows. “Has anything happened to make you wanna go back?” Lucas had to ask this because he had to know whether or not she was spiralling again.

Ever since their dad left them, she has struggled with coping with everything. She did go to the doctor to see if she could get anything for it and ended up finding out she had severe ocd and a tiny bit of ptsd (from fights and stuff she had when she was younger). She went to therapy a few times, before finding out about group therapy, which she went to every week. It helped her more to hear from other people about their experiences. 

She was doing a lot better recently, so Lucas needed to know if she felt on edge or stressed or just anything that isn’t how she normally feels.

His mum shook her head. “I’m fine. I just wanna go to talk to people. See if me talking about my experiences can maybe help others, like it did for me.” She placed the saucepan in the sink, grabbing her bowl and a fork, walking over to Lucas, a small smile on her face.

“That’s a good idea, actually. Why’d you only think of it now?”

His mum shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. But I’m happy I am going to be doing it.” She smiled a full proper smile now, leaning down to kiss Lucas on his temple, before walking into the living room.

Lucas stayed sat at the counter. It seems like everything is finally slotting into place.

——

The small party/gathering in the park on Friday was definitely not small. It seemed like half of the school was there. Well, it looked like it to Lucas anyway.

Him and the guys had headed straight home after school, and then straight to the park after getting ready. They wanted to have the most fun and spend a lot of time there, so thought it would be best to. Eliott was getting here a bit later as he had to go pick some stuff up for his parents and Lucas was counting down the minutes until he would arrive.

He wasn’t clingy or anything. It’s just that parties are more enjoyable with him by his side.

He was currently onto his second drink, dancing with Basile, doing the shimmy that they always seem to do at parties. It had become their thing at this point. Basile was incorporating different moves into each shimmy, making it different and more hilarious at the same time. He was definitely already tipsy.

Lucas was having fun. It seems like over these past few weeks, parties have become somewhat more enjoyable to him. He definitely preferred staying out of the main crowd, but it was also fun to just let loose and have some fun with his friends. He had some great memories over the past few weeks with parties.

And hopefully a lot more to come.

Just as the two of them were forming a dance group involving all of their friends and a few others, Lucas felt two arms wrap around him and warm breath on his ear. He smiled, already knowing who it was.

“Hey.” Eliott whispered in his ear, sending tingles down Lucas’s spine. His voice was so soothing and calming to Lucas. He loved it.

“Hey.” Lucas responded, moving to grab onto Eliott’s forearms. The two of them were clinging onto each other in the middle of a dance group, possibly looking like the biggest in love idiots ever.

“Come with me to get a drink?” Lucas turned his head so he could see Eliott a bit and nodded his head.

Eliott moved his arms so the two of them could walk over to the table with the drinks on, holding hands the whole way. It was amazing to be able to do this finally. Everyone at school had eventually learnt about Lucas and Eliott and had finally realised the gossip was fake. So now Lucas could happily walk around school, not feeling any eyes on him or hearing any whispers. It was the best feeling.

They reached the table, with Eliott grabbing a beer and opening it, immediately taking a sip. The two of them then walked over to a quiet place over by the lake, still holding hands.

The two of them just wanted to enjoy each others company. Looking out at the lake, with the music playing behind them, people singing along... it was nice. Peaceful.

Eliott moved his arm so it was around Lucas’s neck and Lucas wrapped his arm around Eliott’s waist in turn. “You know, I think I’m happy for the first time in a long time.” Eliott said into the short silence that had gathered over them, moving his head so he was looking down at Lucas, a smile on his face.

Lucas looked up at him, a smile also on his face. “Me too.” He simply responded, leaning up to kiss Eliott.

It’s funny how life can change so much in a short amount of time. It’s funny what great things can come from rumours and a fake reputation. Even though Lucas hated it, if it didn’t happen, he wouldn’t have met Eliott. 

And lord knows he would be lost without him now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is it folks! Nine chapters down and this version of Eliott and Lucas are happy.
> 
> Just wanna say a big thank you to everyone who has read, left kudos, left comments, everything. It means the world to me that people have read this and enjoyed it, so thank you! 
> 
> I have no idea if I’m gonna be doing another fic or whether I’m just gonna go back to one shots again, but I surely will be back soon with something else, if any of you are interested in reading more of my writing. But for now, I’m gonna go have a tad break from writing (maybe, if I can hold myself back) and relax. :)


End file.
